- Situation has left 942,000 children aged between 6-59 months and 134,000 pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
- The report identified the affected counties as Elgeyo Marakwet, Machakos, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Siaya, Homa Bay, Nakuru and Migori.
Image: GEORGE MURAGE
The number of people affected by the ongoing drought has now hit 4.35m according to the latest data by the NDMA.
The National Drought Management Authority has warned that the situation would get worse due to the failed rains with the number of counties affected by the dry spell also on the rise.
According to NDMA, the worsening situation had left 942,000 children aged between 6-59 months and 134,000 pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
The authority noted that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance stood at 4.35m while another 846,000 people in nine non-ASAL counties were adversely affected.
The report identified the affected counties as Elgeyo Marakwet, Machakos, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Siaya, Homa Bay, Nakuru and Migori.
“These numbers are bound to change based on the performance of the short rains and its impacts on local livelihoods,” report reads.
“The health and nutrition sector intensified active case finding and necessary referrals to contain the increasing malnutrition rates."
The authority further noted that the number of counties in the Alarm phase of drought had increased from 10 to 14.
These counties are Laikipia, Marsabit, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kwale, Samburu, Tana River, Tharaka Nithi,Turkana, Wajir, Kitui, Kajiado and Mandera.
Seven counties namely Embu, Narok, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Meru, Nyeri and Lamu are in the Alert drought phase as the situation continued to get worse.
“Apart from Embu and Laikipia which showed marginal improvement, Baringo and West Pokot remained under Normal drought phase," NDMA said.
Despite the challenges, NDMA noted that the government and development partners had made major strides in supporting the affected families.
The authority noted that the government and county governments had spent Sh22 billion on interventions with more funds planned for the suffering families.
“Last week, the government, through NDMA disbursed Sh984,636,000 to 91,170 households under the Hunger Safety Net Programme regular cash transfer portfolio,” NDMA said.
Each household according to NDMA received Sh10,800 while a further Sh10 billion has been disbursed under the Inua Jamii cash transfers and Sh4 billion for relief food distribution and emergency relief cash transfers.
The European Union, through NDMA, has also disbursed Sh630 million to support interventions in non-food sectors of water, livestock, education, health, peace and coordination.
“In the last two months, NDMA has provided more than 60,000 bags of drought pellets while USAID has disbursed Sh42 billion in the ongoing campaigns,”the authority said.
The authority further noted that apart from Kenya, millions of people in Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia were facing acute food insecurity and malnutrition.
Last week, the government launched an appeal seeking Sh2 billion to support hundreds of families who are currently facing starvation.
According to the Deputy President Rigathe Gachagua, the government was committed to making sure that no lives were lost due to the harsh weather.
“We are engaging development partners, companies and individuals to assist the government to urgently raise Sh2 billion to support the suffering families,” he said.