Ethiopia

Nutrition

International Medical Corps provides support for the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s nutrition programs in conflict- and drought-affected parts of the country, to address food insecurity and malnutrition. We implement nutrition programming in five camps and one reception centre in Dollo Ado for Somali refugees, as well as in the Afar, Amhara, Dansha, Oromia and Tigray regions.

We help refugees and host communities by providing community-based management of acute malnutrition through health systems, and through mobile health and nutrition clinics. Our capacity-building training sessions focus on infant and young-child feeding practices in emergency contexts, on quality screening and treatment of acute malnutrition in children under 5, and on pregnant and lactating women.

In 2023, we screened 272,309 children 5 and 90,847 pregnant and lactating women (PLWs). Among these patients, our teams treated 70,652 children under 5 for moderate acute malnutrition and 16,872 children under 5 for severe acute malnutrition. We also treated 17,600 PLWs who were suffering from moderate acute malnutrition.

Our activities include:

• distributing infant and young-child feeding information, including education and communication materials;
• screening for, and treatment of, severe and moderate acute malnutrition;
• training healthcare workers on management of severe acute malnutrition and public health emergencies, including admission and discharge criteria, and reporting and recording guidelines; and
• providing logistical support to transport therapeutic foods, medications and other essential items to health centres and health posts.

Working through available health facilities and community nutrition centres, we provide a combination of growth monitoring, nutrition counselling and micronutrient supplements, and provide routine mother and infant checkups and other outpatient visits. To ensure healthy growth during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood, we also promote nutrition education and healthy pregnancies by promoting exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate introduction of complementary food.

Through our livelihood interventions that support our nutrition programs, International Medical Corps provides emergency seed distribution for household gardens. In 2023, we provided emergency seeds to 18,982 households and livelihood support for another 1,950 families.

Food Security and Livelihoods

We provide integrated nutrition and food security services to reduce mortality and morbidity associated with severe acute malnutrition across drought-affected regions. To address the impact of conflict and drought, we support a range of activities that promote and protect local agriculture and livestock and build the resilience of vulnerable families.

Our activities include:

• multi-purpose cash transfers;
• blanket supplementary feeding;
• entrepreneurship programmes;
• vegetable, fruit and poultry production;
• fresh-food vouchers;
• providing crop seeds and farming tools; and
• supporting livestock vaccine supplies and equipment.

International Medical Corps also trains community volunteers—mostly women—on nutrition education, screening and follow-up for malnourished children, and on essential nutrition actions, including exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding and other relevant preventive measures. International Medical Corps trains members of mother care groups (MCGs) to actively promote nutrition and healthy behaviour by visiting households and conducting education sessions. Through these mothers, we have reached more than 153,000 households with health and nutrition messages since 2009.

Income earned from gardening enables women to send their children to school and buy household assets, such as goats and chickens. Our activities also help reduce the impact of future food shocks on female-headed households by giving women more diversified and productive agricultural outputs. In 2023, International Medical Corps provided 600 goats to 120 underserved households.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

International Medical Corps implements comprehensive WASH programmes in the Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali and Tigray regions as part of our ongoing programs at IDP sites, refugee camps and host communities. We rehabilitate water systems, build emergency latrines, promote safe hygiene practices, provide lifesaving NFIs, improve management of solid waste in health facilities and IDP sites, and train people in their communities.

In 2023, International Medical Corps rehabilitated 168 water schemes and provided WASH-related NFIs to 69,000 people. Our teams also improved WASH facilities at 27 health facilities to maximise the impact of our nutrition and health programs. In 2023, we provided safe water for 455,525 people across 10 refugee camps and their host communities.
International Medical Corps has also established standby teams that deploy to remote and hard-to-reach areas, providing much-needed integrated WASH, nutrition and health assistance.

Gender-Based Violence

We operate GBV prevention and response programmes in nine refugee camps, serving Somali refugees in southeastern Ethiopia, South Sudanese refugees in the west and IDPs in various woredas in the Oromia region. In response to the conflict in northern Ethiopia, we extended our GBV programming to the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions. Our GBV-related services include psychosocial support and case management, and construction and rehabilitation of women’s and girls’ safe spaces. We provide psychosocial and case management services to survivors, and train providers on basic case management skills, distribution of dignity kits, safety audits (as a means of risk mitigation) and how to provide psychosocial support.

To promote confidential, competent and compassionate care to survivors of rape and other forms of sexual assault, our staff trains healthcare providers on clinical management of rape. The programme also trains service providers, refugee volunteers and influential elders on basic concepts of GBV, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, case management and GBV referral pathways.

To support community awareness of GBV response, International Medical Corps disseminates information on why it’s important for survivors to report and seek services in a timely manner. To support GBV prevention, we hold informal, curriculum-based “coffee and tea” discussions, strategy sessions on SASA! (an evidence-based community mobilization approach to prevent violence against women), home visits and campaigns that challenge the social norms that enable violence against women and girls.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)

International Medical Corps provides comprehensive services to reduce suffering and improve the mental health and well-being of the people we serve. We offer activities in line with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s MHPSS guidelines for emergency contexts. We also address a wide range of needs, including community and family support and specialised services.

International Medical Corps has implemented MHPSS programming at five camps in Dollo Ado for Somali refugees and in seven camps in Gambella for South Sudanese refugees. The programme continues to support government efforts to integrate MHPSS services into existing primary healthcare services. In 2021, in response to the Tigray conflict, International Medical Corps expanded its MHPSS programming through mobile teams in Afar, Amhara and Tigray. We also extended MHPSS services to Oromia in response to internal conflicts and drought.

In addition, International Medical Corps established two recreational centres: one in Dollo Ado and one in Gambella. These centres are safe spaces for members of the refugee community. There are structured indoor and outdoor games to help improve people’s emotional and social well-being. Additionally, women participate in these centres for skill-building activities and receive materials for recovery activities, including musical instruments, henna designs, books and art supplies.

International Medical Corps is an active member of the national and regional MHPSS Technical Working Group (TWG) Coordination forums, where we co-chair the Gambella and Tigray platforms on a rotating basis. In May 2024, we became a co-chair of the National MHPSS TWG.

Emergency Health Response

Since 2015, International Medical Corps has supported efforts by local public health authorities in the Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, SNNPR and Tigray regions to address emergency health issues caused by drought, conflict and other catastrophes. We provide essential health services to IDPs and remote communities by deploying mobile health and nutrition teams. We also strengthen the government health system by recruiting health professionals to work in hard-to-reach areas.

To ensure the availability of quality healthcare, we procure and distribute medicines, medical equipment and medical supplies. In addition, we provide infection prevention and control (IPC) supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) while offering technical and logistical support. Moreover, we support the rehabilitation of damaged health facilities, restoring their functionality and accessibility. We also strengthen the government’s public health surveillance system to enhance early detection capabilities and improve its ability to prepare and respond to disease outbreaks and emergency health needs in crisis situations.

To build local healthcare capacity and strengthen coordination between government-operated health facilities, we provide capacity-building training on public health emergency management and related topics. We also conduct multi-sectoral rapid assessments, helping to design evidence-based programmes while maintaining the capacity to deploy mobile health and nutrition teams to remote areas. We support routine immunisation campaigns for measles and other illnesses, and respond to emerging outbreaks of disease, including cholera.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS

With an estimated 267 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, Ethiopia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. International Medical Corps is committed to safeguarding the reproductive health of Ethiopian women and girls by improving awareness of maternal health and preventing HIV/AIDS and traditional harmful practices.

Since 2013, International Medical Corps has implemented emergency and development programming and strengthened local capacity that is focused on sexual and reproductive health (SRH), providing lifesaving healthcare in the Afar, Gambella, Oromia, SNNPR and Somali regions.

In 2023, we provided technical training, capacity building and mentorship to 499 health extension workers, 569 healthcare providers (doctors and nurses) and 595 traditional birth attendants on safe delivery practices, antenatal and postnatal care, family planning and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

We currently are implementing SRH and HIV/AIDS programs in four refugee camps in Gambella to help South Sudanese refugees, in three camps in Dollo Ado to help Somali refugees and in two camps in Afar to help Eritrean refugees. We are improving SRH and HIV/AIDS services at these facilities to improve the health status of women of childbearing age, as well as adolescents, youth and children.

The SRH services we offer to adolescents include peer-to-peer educational drama and music programs covering such topics as family planning, adolescent and maternal nutrition, prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, premarital sex, early marriage, cervical cancer screening and management, female genital mutilation and life-skills training. Our community outreach services raise awareness and mobilise the community through house-to-house visits, tea-talk sessions and group training.