Surafeal Mearig
It is BBC's picture and story
Ethiopia civil war: Tigray hospital running out of food for starving children
By Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News Africa correspondent
Published 9 hours ago
Three-month old Surafeal Mearig lies helpless at the biggest hospital in Ethiopia's war-torn region of Tigray.
His eyes are wide open, and his ribs press against his thin-wrinkled skin. He is among many children suffering from malnutrition because of the 14-month civil war that has also spread to the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.
Surafeal's paediatrician at the Ayder Referral Hospital in Tigray's capital, Mekelle, told Reuters news agency that he weighs 2.3kg, one kilogramme less than he did at birth.
Warning: Some readers may find an image below distressing
According to medical notes published by the hospital's staff, his mother's milk has dried up and his parents, now both unemployed, cannot afford formula milk.
Crucially, staff at the hospital say they are running out of therapeutic foods to treat children like Surafeal.
"It is now six months since any supply has come here from Addis Ababa [the federal capital]," a doctor at the hospital told the BBC on condition of anonymity as he feared his family could be targeted.
"We've almost finished what we had since our last supply arrived in June. Everything is running out," he added.
This week medical personnel at Ayder Hospital presented a report to international aid agencies asking for help.
Surafeal was one of the case studies they referred to.
The medics said more than 40% of children aged under five years who come to the hospital are malnourished - double the 2019 rate.
Bone thin, four-year-old Medhaniye also lies in a hospital bed, a feeding tube connected through his nose.
His medical report says he started suffering from malnutrition after soldiers attacked his family home slaughtering their ox, destroying and looting property.
Continue reading
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-59893216
