2.7 million children, and pregnant and nursing mothers in need of specialized nutritious food to treat moderate acute malnutrition. Of this number, 1.3 million live in Nutrition Hotspot Priority 1 woredas (districts). 

The Ethiopia drought response is facing significant funding shortfalls. Available resources are expected to cover needs only until the end of June. If new resources are received now, food commodities will only arrive in the country by August/September. 
It is expected that the HRD caseloads will be revised upwards after the Belg assessment in May/June due to an overall deteriorating food security situation. 

As of 15 May, the Food Cluster supported over 5.2 million beneficiaries as part of the ongoing Round 2 Relief distributions: WFP reached 2 million beneficiaries; the Government’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) reached 2.5 million beneficiaries; and the Joint Emergency Operation Plan (JEOP) 741,000 beneficiaries. 
For the ongoing Round 3 distributions, the Food Cluster has reached 1.2 million beneficiaries so far as of 15 May. 
In WFP areas, Round 2 food distributions reached 16 percent more beneficiaries than the planned due to increased needs in Somali Region. 
For Round 3, WFP initially allocated food for about 1 million beneficiaries based on the available stocks in the country. However, after discussions with the regional and Federal NDRMC, WFP agreed to cover 1.7 million beneficiaries for Round 3 in Somali Region using incoming resources. Allocation and dispatch for the remaining about 700,000 beneficiaries have already started. This will affect the already constrained pipeline for relief. 
Similar to the other rounds, although the dispatch level of NDRMC has reached 65 percent in Round 3, distribution remains low at only 16 percent. This may be due to reporting than implementation problem. NDRMC has allocated food for 4.4 million beneficiaries for Round 3. 
WFP will allocate about USD 1.8 million to address the needs of 253,622 beneficiaries in Amhara and Oromia regions through relief cash transfers. This is carry-over balance of the 2016 relief cash resources. 

WFP’s Treatment of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) programme supported 506,518 children and 469,507 pregnant and nursing women (PNW) from January to May 2017 in Priority one woredas and some second-generation woredas. Most of these woredas are located in drought-affected pastoralist areas of Somali, Afar, Southern parts of Oromia and SNNP regions. WFP distributed a total of 12,224 specialized nutritious food under MAM treatment. 
The current July-December 2017 resource requirements to cover 2.7 million children and PNW under MAM treatment is USD 63 million. Slightly over 10 percent of this requirement has been resourced to date, with existing stocks of specialized nutritious foods projected to be fully depleted by July 2017. Some USD 55 million are needed to ensure a strong MAM response and to avert a serious rise in Severe Acute Malnutrition before the traditional lean season. 
Currently, the delivery report from regions show the delivery for April is at 100 percent for Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray. Meanwhile, the allocation for May has been completed (92 percent for Afar, 97 percent for Amhara, 73 percent for SNNP, and 78 percent for Tigray), and June is in progress. 
 611 new arrivals registered in March. The reduction in influx is attributed to the opening of IDP camps across the border in Somalia. 
The nutritional status for the new arrivals has continued showing improvement compared to the previous reporting period. Accordingly, the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate for the new arrivals in the second half of April was 31 percent, which shows significant improvement compared to above 90 percent GAM rate reported in March 2017. 
Distribution of High-Energy Biscuits (HEBs) and provision of hot meal in the form of porridge have continued until new arrivals in Dollo are relocated to the camps. 
Standard nutrition survey conducted in all Dollo camps during April has shown significant improvement in nutritional status since GAM was found below the emergency threshold in 3 out of 5 camps. The challenge is how to maintain this improvement with the expected ration cuts from July 2017. 
Due to funding constraints, deeper ration cuts reaching up to 37 percent of cereals is planned for most of the refugee camps from July 2017 in addition of excluding Super Cereal and sugar from GFD. The main purpose of this ration cut is to stretch the assistance with the limited resources at hand. The plan is under discussion with key partners including the donor community. 

In April, a total of 3,789 mt of food were distributed to 117,224 beneficiaries. A total of 12,090 mt were planned to be distributed to 636,340 beneficiaries in May. 
The 5th round (May 2017) of PSNP food dispatch for both of Afar and Somali Regions were delayed as a result of the ongoing call- forward in the Somali Region hubs. For Afar, the NDRMC was dispatching food for Rounds 3 and 4, with several delays. WFP and the Government have agreed that WFP would take over the transport for Rounds 5 and 6; however, WFP is now experiencing delays since the logistics team will be conducting a road assessment in the Afar region. 

The first trail for the Djibouti–Adama rail was successfully conducted, with 1,000 mt of food commodities during the last week of April. With the railway, WFP intends to reduce food transportation time by 2 days from 3 days using the traditional road route. 
As the rainy season approaches in the Somali region, WFP Jijga Sub-Office is prioritizing dispatch to areas that are predicted to cause access challenges during the season. 

A second phase of the road assessment from Gode is currently ongoing in Jarar, Nogog, Dollo, and Degahabur zones. The objective of the assessment is to ascertain the condition and accessibility of routes between the areas covered by the Jijiga and Kebridahar Logistics hubs, especially the areas previously covered by the now closed Degahabur Logistics hub. The assessment will determine the current condition of roads and help to establish which hubs should serve as primary dispatching hubs for efficient and cost effective deliveries. The assessment is expected to be completed by 05 June. 
Additionally, through airdrops, WFP delivered 3,202 mt of food from Jimma and Gambella to South Sudan. 

UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) continues to operate in the country. In May, UNHAS has transported 616 people and 5.28 mt of cargo, supported 28 organizations and carried out 9 medical evacuations. 


