Shumuye\u2019s father, Barhe Atsma, was taking advantage of a reprieve in armed fighting to farm his land when his son encountered a grenade. It exploded, shattering his leg and killing a friend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The presence of unexploded ordnance is just one of many threats to Ethiopian kids in Tigray, due to an ongoing crisis that has only escalated since fighting erupted in the region over a year ago<\/a>. Since then, scores of children have died of starvation<\/a>, with many more at risk as the civil conflict extends deeper into neighboring regions Afar and Amhara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As access to some of the worst-affected areas increased, UNICEF’s worst fears about the extent of child malnutrition<\/a> were confirmed, according to agency reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on screening data from July, UNICEF estimated that 100,000 children were at risk of severe acute malnutrition over the next 12 months \u2014 10 times higher than the country’s average annual caseload. At the end of October, UNICEF reported that 80,000 children under age of 5 were severely malnourished in Tigray, Afar and Amhara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly half of all pregnant and lactating women were found to be acutely malnourished as well, increasing their risks of pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications. Malnutrition during pregnancy<\/a> also increases the risk of delivering a low-birth-weight baby prone to sickness and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malnutrition is just one issue. In its most recent situation report<\/a>, UNICEF also reports that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To reach those in need, UNICEF is supporting mobile health and nutrition teams to deliver essential services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UNICEF is also providing education<\/a> \u2014 both formal and informal \u2014 across Ethiopia’s emergency-affected areas. This involves setting up temporary classrooms at IDP camps, reopening schools, providing learning materials and training teachers, among other measures. A total of 177,687 students \u2014 48 percent of them girls \u2014 have been reached through these efforts so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning children to school, whether in a regular classroom in a school building or in a temporary learning space under a tent, offers many benefits. It helps protect them from physical danger, abuse and exploitation, including recruitment into armed groups. It improves their access to nutrition, safe water, health care and hygiene supplies. And it serves as a source of psychosocial support, by giving them the stability and structure they need to cope with everyday trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together with partners, UNICEF is also responding to reports of gender-based violence, providing survivors with dignity kits (hygiene supplies), medical care and mental health and psychosocial support services<\/a>, emergency cash support and legal advice through local referrals facilitated by case managers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Water<\/a>, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is another major focus. UNICEF and partners are reaching hundreds of thousands more people every month with emergency water supplies, either by trucking it to them or repairing or maintaining existing water systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More support is needed to help UNICEF ramp up its response in Ethiopia to meet urgent needs. The targets for specific interventions are outlined in UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) plan for 2022<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Help UNICEF<\/a> save and protect vulnerable children in Ethiopia and other countries in crisis. Donate today<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n about:blank<\/p>\n\n\n\n TOP PHOTO: A severely malnourished baby receives care at a UNICEF-supported stabilization unit in Ayder hospital in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia. Ongoing conflict in the region has created widespread food insecurity, sending malnutrition rates among children soaring. \u00a9UNICEF\/UN0539193\/Leul<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Violence. Malnutrition. Displacement. As the situation for children and families in and around Ethiopia’s Tigray region deteriorates, UNICEF issues an urgent appeal for support to ramp up relief efforts. Shumuye, 10, lives with his family in Yechella, in central Tigray, an area that has seen intense fighting due to conflict in northern Ethiopia. Their house was burned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,140],"tags":[107,86],"class_list":["post-6432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-tigray-kids","tag-animal","tag-home"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UN0497322-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UN0497322-600x453.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"laptopsafrica","author_link":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laptopsforafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"At](\"https:\/\/www.unicefusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/UN0497322.jpg?itok=gFYFrzCx\" "\\"At")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTens of thousands of children caught in Ethiopia conflict are severely malnourished<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.unicefusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/UN0539132.jpg?itok=bahiHAnM\" "\\"A")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMillions of lives are on the line as conflict \u2014 and multiple crises \u2014 escalate in Tigray<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.unicefusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/UN0539177.jpg?itok=4IOQC1Wf\" "\\"A")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor UNICEF, education is also a form of protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.unicefusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/UN0539120.jpg?itok=fCoAIrQO\" "\\"Children")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.unicefusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/UN0539176.jpg?itok=2BQ8v-9t\" "\\"Children")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.unicefusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/UN0539175.jpg?itok=hc_aFPmO\" "\\"Children")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n