The future of three million Ethiopians in need of food aid is in jeopardy, with malnutrition rates on the rise and funding for humanitarian operations in the country drying up, The United Nations said Tuesday. Nearly 5 percent of children are severely malnourished in eastern Ethiopia and five out of every 10,000 affected die every day because of food shortages triggered by drought and failed harvests, the U.N. food agency, the World Food Program, said. Up to 6,000 children have dropped out of school as their families send them in search of food or work to cope with the crisis in the south, according to the U.N. food aid agency. The agency urgently needs US$33 million (¤25 million) to continue feeding 1.5 million people for 2 1/2 months. It plans to cover around half of the country's emergency food needs this year. The rest will come from Ethiopia's government or charity groups, which also have funding problems. "The situation is particularly worrisome in the northeast and east of the country, as well as in the south, where we are seeing higher levels of malnutrition and where water and food remain scarce," said Georgia Shaver, WFP country director in Ethiopia.
