Save the Children: Ethiopia's food crisis

With over 800 staff on the ground, Save the Children has launched a major emergency response in six of the worst affected areas in Ethiopia. These are the eastern and arid southern parts of the country, including Oromiya, the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region, Somali and Afar regions, and parts of Amhara and Tigray Photograph: Freyhiwot Nadew/Save the Children

Akwele, three, held by his mother, has his upper arm measured to identify how malnourished he is and what treatment is needed. Of the 6.2 million people requiring food relief, Save the Children estimates that nearly 3 million are children and are the most vulnerable to malnutrition Photograph: Freyhiwot Nadew/Save the Children/Freyhiwot Nadew/Save the Children

Tigabu, two, receives his first treatment of Plumpy Nut, a high-energy food, at a Save the Children feeding centre. Ethiopian children now have a better chance of making it to their fifth birthday than a generation ago, due to new foods being developed to tackle malnutrition Photograph: Colin Crowley/Save the Children

Fedaku, 20, who is pregnant, separates grains in front of her hut in the Hamerant area of Meket. She and her family are part of the Save the Children cash for work programme. Compared to food aid, cash is more flexible for families and gives them choice Photograph: Frederic Courbet/Panos

Students attend a civic and ethics class at the Genetie elementary school in the Amhara region. Only 42% of adults in Ethiopia are literate. Some of the poorest children live in pastoral communities, where there are no formal schools, so they miss out on education altogether. Save the Children is working with the Somali regional government to ensure that children in pastoral communities get a basic education – efforts in the area have included setting up education centres, building classrooms, providing desks and teaching materials, supporting teacher training, and encouraging more girls to enrol and stay in school Photograph: Guy Calaf

In the last 25 years Ethiopia has experienced higher and more variable temperatures, changed precipitation patterns and more extreme events such as droughts and floods – all impacts of climate change. Midge Ure, part of the Band Aid movement, said: ‘We may not have realised it at the time but the Ethiopian famine was our first wake-up call to climate change. Twenty-five years on, we want to see climate change as a priority for the next generation.’ Photograph: Karin Beate Nosterud/Save the Children

Save the Children community health worker, Daniel Seifu, carries a box of Plumpy Nut to a therapeutic centre in Wadda Village, West Badawacho Photograph: Colin Crowley/Save the Children

Sunbete, five, has her first meal in a long time at a therapeutic feeding centre. Save the Children estimates that the price tag for tackling malnutrition for children in Ethiopia is £740m a year Photograph: Karin Beate Nosterud/Save the Children

There is still a long way to go. The challenge now is to find longer-term solutions to ensure that in years to come the most vulnerable children have the opportunity to grow up free from hunger Photograph: Karin Beate Nosterud/Save the Children