A cross sectional study was cond ucted with the object ive of assessing healthrnprob lems, hea lth coping strategies and hea lth care demand of non-displacedrncommunities whi ch are in food crisis. The study cons isted of a household su rveyrn(n=53 I househo lds), Focus Group Oiscuss ions( N=IO grou ps) and an individ ual indepthrninterv iew of government officia ls ( n = 9) th rough which quantitative andrnqualitative data were coll ected.rnThe study Woreda (d istri ct) of North Wollo Zone, Amahara Regional State,rnEth iop ia. The di strict was highly affected by the fam ines of the 1970s and 1980s andrnhas been fac ing repeated food sholtages ever since.rnIn the three months reca ll period 748(29.4%) of the 2,547 householdrnmembers reported be ing ill, out of which only 122 (16.3%) sought western-stylernmedical care. The ma in reason (72.7% of the responses) for not seeking med ical ca rernwas lack of money to cover the medical cost and/or for transportation andrnaccommodation. Most households had not recovered from the past famines' economicrnshock, due to the recurrent nature of food prod uction fai lure. The an nual per capitarnincome in the surveyed population was found to be 3 10.4 (US $ 43.7). In fo rmat ionrnwas obta ined from 148 hou sehold s on the hea lth- cost co ping mechanisms; thesernwere 72(48.6%) of the househo lds from the sa le of animals and anima l products,rn32(2 1.6%) from the sa le of grai ns and the rest from loans, sav in gs, sa le of househo ldrnuten si ls and fi re-wood, and work ing in food-far-work or cash-for work programmes.rnThe most vul nerable groups who were severely affected by the current food cr isisrnwere elders, women-headed househo lds and those who have no product ive assets, i.e,rnthe poor. About half of the 531 stud ied ho useholds had no sin gle an im al; 55.5 wererncurrently dependent on food aid . This fin ding shows the exhaustion of the hea lthcost-rnco ping strategies of the communiti es. A rel at ive ly hi gh number of thernhouseholds (24.6%) were found to consume a fa mine food (Lathyrus Sativus) whichrncauses neuro-tox icity when consumed for along period as a main diet. The linernmini stry offi ces, from the region to the district, lack tra ined manpower in d isasterrnmanagement; there is a tendency for them to fo rward a ll disaster issues to the spec ificrngovernment authority for disa ster management issues, the Disaster Prevention andrnPreparedness Commiss ion (OPPC).The study recommendations are as fol lows: a)rnHealth aid shou ld be part of food aid package; b) Special attention should go to thernmost vu lnerable gro ups of the community; and c) Training of di saster managers at allrnlevels IS mand atory fo r a better handl ing of di sasters.