Regional Reports - the European External Action Service

• Land degradation is a serious concern in the Dire Dawa Administration. The problem has
its root causes to man made and natural factors: a) The soil loss rate resulting in
continuous soil erosion; b)Deforestation because of unbalanced fuel wood demand and
supply; c) Overgrazing; c) Lack of appropriate land use policies and regulations; d) Poor
forestation; e)law ;f) Lack of administration for vast open access ; g) Decrease in stream
and spring discharges, which are manifested by drying up of streams and springs in per
urban areas;
• The projected population for the years 2010 and 2015 orderly depicts an increment of
population by 206 and 285 thousands and the doubling time of the populations is
estimated to occur within 17 years time interval (2011) from the census period. The
increment in population size and the average annual population growth rate of the region
generally shows a substantial population pressure facing against development efforts with
limited resources and managing capacity in terms of spatial, environmental and technical
aspects. The fastest population growth rate accompanied with narrow population
doubling time interval has a tremendous repercussion on development practices and
outputs;
• One of the pervasive problems of urban centres in general and Dire Dawa in particular is
the existence of very high unemployment rate. Total Unemployment rate for Dire Dawa
reaches 33.5 percent, which is higher than the National urban unemployment rate of 22.9
%;
• Currently it is estimated that more than 24,000 housing backlog exist in the city. On top
of this, due to population growth, on average the backlog is expected to grow annually by
2900 for the coming five years. The housing problem in Dire Dawa is not only of
quantity but the quality of many housing units is also a prime concern. It is observed that
out of the total housing stock, about 30.5 percent are built up of wood and mud. Stone
and cement houses constitute about 26.4 percent and about 17 percent of the houses are
made up of stone and mud;
• The nature of water problem in the city is basically both shortage and pollution. The
existing water supply system of the town comes from ground water sources. In the
existing water supply system of the town there are five modes of services which are
house tap users, yard tap users, neighbourhood tap users, public tap users, and traditional
source users;
• Health care is one of the crucial components of basic social services that have a direct
linkage to the growth and development of a country as well as the welfare of the society.
Even though the physical health service coverage in Dire Dawa is relatively better
compared to other regions in Ethiopia (83.4 %), the health service delivery is of poor
quality. This can be partly attributed to capacity limitation & absence of referral system
which clearly demarcates catchments and verifies roles and duties of Health facilities at
different levels, the quality of the health service delivered in the administration is low.
The poor quality of the health service delivery has worsen the Health condition of the
society through aggravating under Five mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, morbidity,
poor hygiene and sanitation etc. Available information indicates that under five Mortality
Rate in the city is 348.6 where as infant mortality rate is 96.5 per 1000;
• The current HIV/AIDS prevalence of urban and rural Dire Dawa is 10.9% and 1.3 %
respectively. From the total HIV positive population the higher share lies between the age
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