RSS FeedEthiopia: medication needed to tackle measles and water contamination
Ethiopia: medication needed to tackle measles and water contamination
Measles outbreaks, decaying animal carcasses and even ash contamination from volcanic activity are combining to threaten lives in the Afar communities of Ethiopia, but Anglicord’s partners are working hard to address the needs of a struggling community further impoverished by drought.
Valerie Browning, an Australian nurse now living in the Afar pastoralist community in Ethiopia, says that the Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA) now has two emergency teams in the field.
“One is burying animal carcasses in southern Afar where thousands of animals that were weak from drought are [now] dead,” she says, “and a second team is in Erebti where measles has broken out in a community [suffering] extreme malnutrition , a community with almost no surviving animals.”
Image: A young mother and her children from the Biru region, which was affected by a volcanic eruption. This community are absolutely destitute, and before the volcano, they lost their stock in the drought. The severe acute malnutrition rate in their community is nearly 6%. Photo: Abduljaliil Ahmad
With the permission of the Bureau of Health, APDA sent a health officer to assess the situation, which reported several deaths from over a hundred cases of measles in the Woreda region of Northern Ethiopia. In the Alayta community, people were found to have been affected by ash from volcanic activity in late July. Rain subsequently washed the ash into water supplies, leading to abdominal pain and swelling limbs.
“We need an immediate joint team from APDA and the Bureau of Health to go to the community to confirm diagnoses, conduct rapid nutrition assessments, and treat the illnesses,” Ms Browning says.
For this, they need antibiotics, vitamins, and “Plumpynut,” an energy dense and nutritious peanut paste.
“A family needs 10 goats to get up from their knees,”
While saving lives is of the utmost priority, it is also important in an emergency situation to prepare for recovery.As well as continuing the long term health, literacy and economic projects APDA have been carrying out with support from Anglicord, Ms Browning is hoping to raise funds to assist over 4,000 households “who are absolutely destitute”. By and large, she says, this means restocking.
“A family needs 10 goats to get up from their knees,” she says.
You can send donations to assist the work of APDA in addressing this emergency situation by donating online, calling 1800 249 880 toll free, or downloading a donation form.
by Jane Still