Children like these in Ethiopia are vulnerable when their parents become ill and unable to work.

A country very proud of being the only African nation to defend itself against full colonization, Ethiopia is more often associated in the West with grinding poverty and famine. With the second largest population in Africa— at 86 million, second only to Nigeria—the East African nation is home to dozens of ethnic groups speaking dozens of languages. But they all share the challenges of low literacy, high infant mortality and birth rates, and few economic opportunities.

Since 2008, IRD has been working to expand economic opportunity for residents who have been affected by HIV, helping communities help thier own people. And through a USAID-funded program, we are assisting the government of Ethiopia on a health system expansion program with the goal of increasing the number of government standard health centers from approximately 630 in 2009 to 3,153 by the end of 2012, providing technical capacity, funding, and human resources to help them reach their goal.

Most recently, however, southern and eastern regions of Ethiopia are experiencing the worst drought in decades. The failure of the rains has had an extremely adverse effect on crops and livestock, but it has taken an especially terrible toll on the region's people - across the Horn of Africa more than 9 million people remain at risk of starving to death. Read in full about IRD's response to this crisis, or specifically our water trucking program targeting 35,000 people in the Somali region of Ethiopia.

Programs
- Horn of Africa Famine Response
- Addressing HIV and Poverty in Ethiopia
- Ethiopia Health Infrastructure Program (EHIP)

• photos
• |
• videos