Children accessing water outside their village in Western Eritrea. © Derek Markwell
Bordering the Red Sea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan, the country of Eritrea, with its mountainous terrain and coastal plains, is one of the most picturesque countries in East Africa.
But it remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
Eritrea ranks 165 out of 182 on the UN Human Development Index.
Life expectancy is 59 years but HIV prevalence remains below 2%. The government has put substantial effort into improving health, education and clean water and hygiene provision, but many challenges still remain.
Water shortage is a major difficulty for Eritrea; it has endured consecutive years of drought, leading to serious humanitarian problems such as food insecurity and severe malnutrition in children.
DFID activity in Eritrea:
DFID's engagement in Eritrea is limited to humanitarian assistance focused on providing relief to those that need it the most.
In the last five years, DFID has provided over £19 million in humanitarian aid to the Eritrean people through a number of programmes including nutrition, health, water and sanitation and protection activities.
For example DFID, in partnership with UNICEF, continues to help bring safe drinking water supplies to an estimated 160,000 people across targeted communities in six regions of Eritrea.
Our support to NGO CAFOD will help provide up to 10,000 malnourished children and pregnant women with a supplementary food ration in areas badly affected by drought.
DFID’s Eritrea programme team is based in London with support from Nairobi.
It works closely with the British Embassy in Asmara, international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral organisations such as the UN.