• At least 15 per cent of starving people in the affected counties are acutely malnourished
• This means they cannot digest solid food, including ugali and githeri, properly.
Some of the foods being sent to drought-hit areas could kill the people they are meant to save, experts have warned.
The government mainly sends maize, beans and cooking oil, which the starving people do not need immediately, nutritionists warn.
“Some people have high risk syndromes and if you give them food you can lose that person. We don’t start with food immediately. We give some formula to boost their GIP (gastric inhibitory peptide) to function,” Nutrition Association of Kenya chairman Henry Ng'ethe said.
At least 15 per cent of starving people in the affected counties are acutely malnourished, which means they cannot digest solid food like ugali or githeri, properly.
“Maize and beans will bring more problems. We have formula that contains Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for those conditions. We need nutritionists there and medical personnel to provide rehydration and antibiotics,” Ng'ethe said.
Recommended RDA is the average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of healthy people.
Ng'ethe said starving people have different health conditions. Some people have bacterial infections, while others present with edema, which causes swelling by accumulation of water in the extremities.
Last week, the National Drought Management Authority confirmed that at least 800,000 Kenyans in 23 counties need food aid because of the failure of 2018 short rains.
The food security assessment was conducted by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group which comprises government departments, UN agencies and private organisations involved in food and nutrition security.
“The group most at risk includes expectant women, children and the elderly. NAK is concerned with many governors asking for maize, bean and oil and it will not help. Maize and beans do not amount to nutritious food. These people need trace elements, minerals and micro-nutrients,” the chairman said.
After a long period of starvation, the body cannot digest solid food immediately because it stops to secrete digestive juices.
Stomach muscles also shrink as they have no work. All the glands, the pancreas and liver also go on conservation mode. The digestive glands take some time to relearn their role and judge the quantity to be secreted when food finally comes.
The stomach muscles have also lost their tone and need to relearn.
Ng'ethe said nutritionists are ready to volunteer to administer the nutrients, before introducing food slowly to the thousands of starving people.
Such people can turn to the normal food in three to four days, although some acute cases will need hospitalisation.