Mortality during a famine--Gode district, Ethiopia, July 2000.

Recurrent famine has been a major cause of mortality in the Horn of Africa. In Ethiopia, three consecutive years of drought led to widespread loss of livestock, population displacement, and malnutrition, placing an estimated 10 million persons at risk for starvation in 2000. A large proportion of the population of the Gode district in Somali region was displaced in a search for food and food aid (CDC, unpublished data, 2000). From April through July 2000, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) opened feeding centers in the Gode district. Because no vital statistics or public health surveillance system existed in the district, and no representative mortality or morbidity data were available, during July 2000, CDC, in collaboration with Save the Children U.S., the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), conducted a mortality survey. This report summarizes the results of this survey, which found persistently high levels of mortality, with measles representing an important cause of mortality in children aged <5 years and 5-14 years. Mass measles vaccination with vitamin A distribution is an important intervention during the acute phase of famines in sub-Saharan Africa.