The BBC has published three articles based on the work of academics at Ghent University, including Professor Jan Nyssen.
They linked below in the original. The Amharic version – translated by computer – is below.
Tigray starvation report in Tigrigna, Amharic, and Afaan Oromoo languages.
March 23, 2022, 07:06 EAT
According to a recent study, between 300,000 and 500,000 people have died so far as a result of war, famine and lack of medicine in Tigray’s Genet University.
Leading the study, Professor Jan Neisson told the BBC that he had been following the war in the Tigray region since its inception.
He recalled that he had previously conducted various erosion studies at universities in Tigray and other regions, and that he had documented the deaths in Mekele and other rural kebeles of Tigray since the beginning of the war.
The federal government went to war with the TPLF rebels in the Tigray region on October 24, 2013, and there have been no official reports of casualties.
“Since then, we have decided to monitor and collect information on the killings that have taken place since the beginning of the war,” said Professor Jan.
According to Professor Jan, some 10,000 people have been identified as victims of the Holocaust.
“Sometimes it was difficult to ascertain the time and place of their deaths. Some people tell you in English; all this was somewhat difficult. However, we tried to compare and read all the information from different angles.”
He estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 people have been killed in the region.
So far, no figures have been released on the number of people killed in the conflict in the Tigray region, with the exception of figures released by a Belgian university professor.
There is also no word from the Ethiopian government or anyone else on this figure.
The Dangers of Hunger
According to Professor Jan, the study also included those who died of starvation. The United Nations estimates that up to 400,000 people and up to 900,000 people are at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom, said last week that the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments had imposed unofficial sanctions on 6 million people in the Tigray region.
According to the United Nations, more than 5.2 million people in the region are in need of emergency assistance, and half a million people are at risk of starvation.
“Unless aid is forthcoming, more than half of Tigray’s population will die,” he was quoted as saying by Tigray Television’s regional social affairs head, Mulugeta Debalke.
“We are on the verge of extinction as the embargo continues to intensify. If the embargo continues until April, half of Tigray’s population will die. Many are dying due to drug shortages,” he said.
“We are receiving reports that many are committing suicide because they have not been able to provide basic services to their families,” he said.
Reports from the past few weeks indicate that a large number of people are fleeing the famine and hardship in the Tigray region and entering the Amhara region.
How did this figure come to be?
Explaining the results of his research to the BBC, Professor Jan explained that he had looked at the death toll in the pre-war years to reach that number.
“Between 400,000 and 900,000 people could die of starvation,” he said, adding that they had taken and used information from USAID since the start of the war.
He said the figures show that “two out of every 10,000 people” die every day.
In addition, Professor Jan points out that some die of drug overdose.
“We have information about people who came to Ayder Hospital and died without treatment. This gives you a hint. It is a sea urchin.”
The Ethiopian branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that medical facilities in the Tigray region have been destroyed.
“Medical providers are not receiving basic inputs and some infrastructure has been severely damaged,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement. In a statement.
The Red Cross says the shortage of medicines and medical equipment, combined with the destruction of health infrastructure, has made access to health services extremely difficult.
For his part, Professor Jan said that in this study, he spoke to people working at Eider Hospital and found information on how many people had died due to lack of medication.
“For example, he was a student who died after being bitten by a dog. They could not get vaccinated. He could have been saved at another time. He should not have died.”
Increasing mortality
Explaining how many people died due to lack of medicine, he said: “We had to compare the number of people who died before the war; [citing graph]
“To cite some findings, in 1980, when there was no modern health system, 20 out of 1,000 people died. Records show that by the time the war began, the death toll had dropped to 6 per 1,000,” he said.
“Death rates have risen again,” he said, noting that most medical facilities had collapsed and that they were without medical equipment and expertise.
He added: “Our estimate is that the death toll has returned to 20 per 1,000 people… And if we go back to a time when there was no supply of drugs, the death toll would be 32 per 1,000. This is a figure agreed by medical doctors.”
International organizations say there is a severe humanitarian crisis due to the current humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region, which is hampered by the ongoing war.
The World Food Program estimates that 4.6 million people in Tigray alone, four out of five, are food aid workers.
He also called on the federal government and the TPLF to facilitate access to humanitarian assistance to the region.
The TPLF leadership and the federal government have blamed each other for failing to provide humanitarian assistance to the region.
‘Something worse can happen’
Professor Jan expresses his concern that the situation could worsen if Tigray does not receive immediate assistance and if the situation continues.
“I think it could be worse. The death toll is so high. It’s really hard to quantify the number of deaths,” he said.
“So far, we estimate that 300,000 to 500,000 people have died.
According to the World Food Program, at the end of January, 40 percent of Tigray’s population was exposed to “severe food insecurity.”
The report states that 83 percent of the region’s population has run out of food and is begging and eating only once a day.
It has also been repeatedly stated that due to the ongoing conflict in the Afar region, the only Semera-Abala road to humanitarian aid to Tigray has been closed.
International aid agencies operating in the region have reportedly run out of supplies and fuel in the region, and some have been forced to cut back due to transportation and fuel shortages.
He said he has only 600 liters of fuel left over from March 08, 2022.
Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) has told the BBC that no humanitarian aid is currently being transported to Tigray via the Afar Aalala, but recently confirmed that the federal government and Afar regional authorities have allowed humanitarian aid to reach Tigray.
Martin Plaut 
The world is still unwilling to act for the past 505 days, while children are enduring the unbearable sufferings and thousands of kids succumbed to death from treatable diseases and reversible human made starvation lying in the hands of their parents. This image recounts the magnitude of agony this kid underwent all those days until his body eaten up with infectious diseases, i.e hunger increases risk of Chronic and infectious diseases, as study suggests.
Stop the genocide and war on Tigray and Please allow and facilitate immediate unhindered humanitarian access for all people affected by this conflict!!