• More than 134,000 pregnant and lactating women in the country are acutely malnourished and in need of urgent treatment.
• The ministry has further warned that persistent food insecurity has contributed to a dire and deteriorating nutrition situation.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
More than 134,000 pregnant and lactating women in the country are acutely malnourished and in need of urgent treatment.
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday warned the situation might worsen especially in the arid and semi-arid counties.
Acute malnutrition takes place when the body doesn’t receive the nutritional support it requires.
The body adapts by reducing physical activity and slowing the processes involved in proper organ function and cell and tissue maintenance.
The ministry has further warned that persistent food insecurity has contributed to a dire and deteriorating nutrition situation.
As a result, more than 942,500 children between six months and five years are urgently in need of therapeutic treatment for acute malnutrition.
Of these, more than 229,000 (24 per cent) children are suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition.
“This not only compromises their immunity but significantly elevates the risk of mortality. The mothers are also affected by malnourishment,” Health CAS Rashid Aman said.
He said the acute malnutrition situation is expected to worsen and may require a blanket six supplementary feeding for all children from six months to 59 months in most affected ASAL counties.
Kenya is currently in the throngs of an unprecedented drought particularly in the ASAL counties, following four consecutive seasons of poor rains.
This has seen the number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity increase by 17 per cent to 4.1 million, up from the 3.5 million initially projected over the period of March to June 2022.
The President in September 2021 declared hunger a national disaster.
The country has since prepared a nutrition preparedness and response plan of approximately Sh5.3 billion.
Some 80 per cent of the funds will be committed to procurement of essential nutrition commodities for both severe and moderate acute malnutrition.
The UK government is currently providing assistance in scaling up emergency nutrition services in the 10 worst affected counties.
This support being channeled through UNICEF has enabled Kenya to conduct mass screening of children and women in the most affected counties of Mandera, Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Samburu and Isiolo.
In addition, more than 40,000 children diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition aim to be reached with nutritional therapeutic treatment.
UNICEF Kenya deputy representative Jean Lokenga said partner support has helped facilitate a response that enables early detection and referral of malnourished children.
He said they have reached more than 239,000 children through mass screening in drought affected counties.
“However, due to the severity of the crisis, malnutrition rates remain high, well above emergency levels. More needs to be done to support affected communities,” Lokenga said.
This comes even as the ministry on Tuesday flagged off more than 31,500 cartons of therapeutic food, that targets to reach at least 31,000 children affected by severe malnutrition from seven counties.
The RUTFs are set to benefit children in Mandera, Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Samburu and Isiolo counties.
Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food is a life-saving essential food that treats severe malnutrition in children under five years.
It comes packaged in form of a ready-to-eat peanut paste, fortified with vital vitamins and minerals.
Early this week, the UN warned that the number of hungry people worldwide will rise in all countries, including Kenya.
The UN in a report said almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, up from 112 million in 2019.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)