Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, where the prevalence of malnourishment is quite advanced, with modest progress only now in recent years. One in four people continue to be malnourished, with special prevalence in the case of child malnutrition, and close to 6.5 million children could be at risk of dying of hunger as a result of droughts.
More than 94.7% of the population survive with less than two dollars a day as earnings. Unemployment, increase in demography, natural calamities such as floods, drought, epidemics, pandemic diseases such as HIV / AIDS, lack of appropriate technology, etc. are some of the factors that cause millions of people in Ethiopia to live constantly in misery.
The most vulnerable in these demographics are widows, and orphaned children who compose of more than six million that find themselves in these extreme poverty situations, without access to food, health, and education.
The situation of Ethiopian children is alarming, droughts and repetitive famines threaten their survival. Mortality in children under 5 years is 41%, and malnutrition remains the leading cause of infantile deaths in 54% of known cases.
Education
Since 1997, in Ethiopia schooling has become mandatory from the ages of 7 to 16. However, the education is not free and one must make provisions for not only paying tuition or school fees but also further expenses related to the purchase of school supplies and uniforms.
This makes education way too expensive and as a result, many children do not have access. Only 13% of children are enrolled in secondary education, and more than a third of Ethiopian girls are not enrolled in school and are relegated to domestic chores.
Child Trafficking
Ethiopia is one of the first ten countries where children trafficked in Africa come from. More than 20,000 children a year, some of whom are only 10 years old, are sold by their parents, according to the International Organization for Migration, for an approximate amount of US $ 1.20.
Every year, Ethiopian children become victims of modern slavery by being subjected to work as domestic helps without pay or more frequently to commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor in agriculture, gold mines or in the traditional textile industry. Parents marrying off their young children especially girls is a factor that contributes most to increase in trafficking.
Child prostitution
A significant amount of children become victims of sexual exploitation in Ethiopia, especially in urban areas. Ethiopian girls are taken against their will, in their numbers on a regular basis to the Middle East, especially to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Emirates.
These girls, who in most cases are not even up to the age of 11 yet, are recruited into prostitution with no efforts made to protect them from the dangers of AIDS that they are often exposed to.
Children and AIDS
According to UNAIDS, Ethiopia has the highest proportion of children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that around 1,000,000 children are affected. A small number among them have access to a psychosocial, educational and nutritional follow-up, but it is still insufficient.
Street Children
One of the main problems is that of orphaned children wandering the streets of Ethiopian cities. Vulnerable and abandoned, they are forced into Child labour and are made to carry out dangerous and degrading work. And frequently, they become victims of drug addiction or sexual exploitation, and get picked up by Police.
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