Ethiopia – Tigray Region Humanitarian Update Situation Report #20 – October 20, 2021

FAST FACTS

• In Ethiopia, International Medical Corps is operating 21 mobile health and nutrition teams (MHNTs), which have reached 678,130 internally displaced persons (IDPs) settled in more than 32 IDP sites in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions. In the past two weeks, International Medical Corps started providing emergency lifesaving health and nutrition services in Chena (in Northern Gondar), where civilian casualties were recently reported.
• International Medical Corps’ 21 MHNTs are providing integrated health, nutrition, gender-based violence (GBV), mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions.
• Our teams have carried out more than 137,549 consultations and screened more than 92,835 children and pregnant women for acute malnutrition in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions.

Nearly one year into the conflict between the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the security situation in northern Ethiopia continues to worsen. Since the withdrawal of the ENDF from Tigray in June 2021, the conflict has expanded to five zones in the Amhara region (North Gondar, South Gondar, Wag Hemra, North Wollo and South Wollo) and two zones in Afar (Zone 1 and Zone 4). This expansion of fighting has created an additional 1.2 million IDPs and rendered 1,436 health facilities nonfunctional in the Amhara and Afar regions, including 271 health centers, 1,143 health posts and 22 hospitals. Out of the affected health facilities, 163 health centers, 642 health posts and 14 hospitals have been destroyed and looted of equipment and supplies.

The emergency response efforts in Tigray continue to be hampered by the disruption and suspension of electricity, telephone and internet networks, banking services, fuel shortages and logistical challenges in transporting critical supplies, including essential drugs. Medical supplies are in extremely short supply in Tigray. From October 6–12, 211 trucks entered Tigray to bring medical supplies and nutrition supplies to the population. However, there is still a backlog of more than 2,500 metric tons of aid supplies waiting to be transported. A recent escalation in the conflict has meant that International Medical Corps has had to move its MHNTs to ensure the safety of the teams and the IDPs. Still, all teams remain operational in Afar, Amhara and Tigray, and are supporting communities as needed.

Source: International Medical Corps