Boricha Woreda faced consecutive crop failures and/or very low harvest over the past years. Failure and/or poor performance of Kiremt and Belg rains, moisture stress, disease, and pest attack are the major causes of the reduction of production every year. Due to the cumulative effect of the above-described problems, the woreda is categorized as chronically food insecure and the community has been receiving emergency relief food assistance for the past decades.

This situation affected the  food security at the household level. Therefore, currently, the food security of the community is highly endangered. Considering the severity of the situation, the woreda's early warning office and SNNP regional ENCU requested the technical support of GOAL Ethiopia to conduct a standard nutrition survey in Boricha woreda of the Sidama zone. In line with this, GOAL planned to conduct a standard nutrition survey to assess the current nutritional status, health, and food security situation of the population and to see the magnitude and severity of the problem for appropriate intervention in the woreda. Thus, the survey was conducted from 15th to 28th of May 2012.

The current nutrition survey can be considered the third of its kind that GOAL Ethiopia has conducted in the area and can be considered the end-line nutrition survey. A total of 663 children aged 6-59 months were analyzed in the survey. The findings of the current survey indicated that the prevalence of global acute malnutrition WFH, <-2 z-scores weight for height and/or edema is estimated at 7.7% (95% CI 5.6-10.5) and severe acute malnutrition <-3 z-scores weight for height and/or edema is estimated at 0.8% (95% CI 0.2- 2.8). Likewise, the woreda is characterized by a chronic and serious problem of shortage of potable water as more than 70% of the woreda population depends on ponds and unsafe sources of water. Furthermore, poor sanitation, personal and environmental hygiene, and availability of pit latrines and waste disposal pits are common problems in the surveyed villages.

• Nutrition
• Mortality
• Survey
• Boricha Woreda
• Sidama
• SNNPR

Not yet mentioned.

Boricha Woreda is one of the nineteen Woredas of Sidama zone, Southern Nations Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR). It is located in the Southern part of the country at about 310 km away from the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, and 35km away from Awassa town. As per the information obtained from the woreda Agriculture and Rural Development Office, the community of the woreda has faced consecutive crop failures and/or very low harvest over the past years.

The community of the Woreda has been under food aid for the past years through food for work, emergency GFD, and in recent years in the Productive Safety Net Program. The Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) has been in place in the Woreda since 2005. Currently, 39,021 PSNP and 6,669 GFD beneficiaries are being supported. As per the Woreda early warning office, due to the delay of the current 2012 Belg spots of rain, the timely plantation of Irish potato, sweet potato, cabbage, and haricot bean was highly affected which leads to the extension of the harvest time of these crops. This situation affected food security at the household level. Therefore, currently, the food security and nutrition situation of the population is deteriorating. Considering the severity of the situation, the Woreda's early warning office and SNNP regional ENCU requested technical support from GOAL Ethiopia to conduct a standard nutrition survey in Boricha woreda of the Sidama zone. In line with this, GOAL planned to conduct a standard nutrition survey to assess the current nutritional status, health, and food security situation of the population and to see the magnitude and severity of the problem for appropriate intervention in the woreda. Thus, the survey was conducted from the 15th to the 28th of May 2012.

Copy url