Ethiopia: Adapting operations during COVID-19 to meet humanitarian needs

The ICRC has been present in Ethiopia since the beginning of the 1977 Ethio-Somalia armed conflict. Our current major activities in Ethiopia address the humanitarian needs of people affected by conflict and other situations of violence.

We work closely with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society to restore family links among separated people. We visit places of detention to ensure that the treatment meted out to the detainees is humanitarian in nature. We also help people with physical disabilities get access to quality and sustainable physical rehabilitation services.

We also help promote the knowledge of international humanitarian law among members of the defence and police forces as well as higher learning institutions, legal professionals and policymakers.

Since March 2020, the ICRC delegation in Ethiopia has rapidly adapted to the evolving reality of the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country and is stepping up its response to the pandemic integrating COVID-19 as an important new parameter in its operations.

Highlights of our work in Ethiopia from January to June 2020

	More than 17,180 detainees were visited in different places of detention
	Provided 48,155 free phone calls to refugees and returnees
	Provided basic medical supplies and emergency kits to 6 primary health care units and 5 hospitals
	Together with the ERCS, supplied infection prevention and control materials to 17 COVID-19 treatment centres
	Distributed farming seeds to 74,300 people affected by ethnic violence
	Provided livestock vaccination to more than 450,000 domestic animals belonging to 196,800 semi-pastoralists
	Constructed underground water storage benefiting 4,500 people
	Enabled 2,918 people living with disabilities to access physical rehabilitation services

For a detailed report of our work in Ethiopia from January to June 2020, please read the complete report.