Ethiopia, the United Nations and aid agencies appealed today for $271 million to provide food, vaccinations, improved water and sanitation in the African country next year.
A statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said $159 million would be used to buy 387,482 tonnes of food while the remaining $112 million would be for non-food aid.
"From January 2005, about 2.2 million people will be provided with emergency food assistance under the appeal while more than 5 million chronically food insecure people will be provided assistance in the form of cash or food for labour intensive public works," the OCHA statement said.
About $84 million would go to health and nutrition programmes including dispensing measles vaccinations and vitamin A supplements for 6.8 million children up to the age of five.
Another $11 million will be used to cover costs in the crop and livestock sectors, the statement said. One of the poorest countries in the world, Ethiopia has struggled to feed its fast-growing population of 70 million people in the face of recurring drought.