Addis Ababa: Hunger is worsening among vulnerable families in Ethiopia as reduced international aid, conflict, drought and economic hardship leave more children without enough food and basic support.
Church run assistance programmes supported by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association are continuing to provide food and other essential services as many humanitarian organisations reduce or suspend their work in parts of the country.
In Addis Ababa, Feven Alem, a 32 year old Eritrean refugee and mother of three, is struggling to care for her children, two of whom have autism. Without legal status to work in Ethiopia, she has little opportunity to earn an income and fears losing her home.
She receives monthly financial assistance from the Jesuit Refugee Service, but says food has become increasingly difficult to obtain. Her children have sometimes gone to bed hungry, leaving her worried about their survival and future.
The situation is also severe in Mendida, about 96 miles north of Addis Ababa. The rural community has received people displaced by ethnic and armed conflict, food insecurity and economic hardship.
There, religious sisters from the Congregation of Divine Providence have become a major source of assistance. Their CNEWA supported Medhanealem Medium Clinic provides food and essential services to vulnerable families.
Many of the mothers and children arriving at the clinic are malnourished. Sister Dinknesh Getachew, who administers the clinic, says demand has grown beyond the resources available.
The clinic is seeing the effects of prolonged hunger among children, including anxiety and other mental health difficulties. The sisters continue to provide food and services while facing the risk that their own supplies will run out.
Weinshet Gezaw, a pregnant mother living with her twin sons in Mendida, depends on the clinic after losing her home and moving back to her ancestral village. She says the food provided by the Catholic Church has helped her family survive under extremely difficult conditions.
Other families face similar struggles. Feleku Agonafer, who is partially blind and lives with HIV, depends on the clinic for a daily meal for her daughter. Aberash Abebe also takes her baby to the clinic for food because shortages have made breastfeeding difficult.
International aid reductions have added to the pressure. The material says US aid was frozen in January 2025, while the United States Agency for International Development was dismantled. In 2024, the United States provided $480.5 million in humanitarian funding to Ethiopia.
Humanitarian organisations have since reduced food deliveries, while insecurity, including kidnappings and theft, has made it harder for aid workers to reach people in need.
The northern Tigray region has been particularly affected. Many humanitarian organisations have left cities including Mekelle, Wukro and Adigrat. During the civil war that ended in 2022, more than 80 percent of the region's population depended on humanitarian assistance.
The Ethiopian Catholic Church remains among the institutions providing support in the region, particularly through its work in education and health care, despite limited resources.
The situation is also difficult in Amhara, Oromia and Gambela, where more than a million South Sudanese refugees are living. Drought, conflict and insecurity affecting humanitarian workers are putting further pressure on food and other essential services.
International organisations have warned that food insecurity could become more severe. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Global Partners estimate that more than 10 million people in Ethiopia will face high levels of acute food insecurity this year.
For families already living on the edge, the crisis is increasingly a question of survival. In Addis Ababa, Alem says her greatest fear is that her children could die from hunger or become victims of exploitation.
“The worry has made my life unbearable,” she says.