UNICEF URGENLY REQUIRES US$ 4.9 MILLION TO ADDRESS THE IMMEDIATE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN AFFECTED BY DROUGHT AND FOOD INSECURITY
- Up to 3.8 million persons are in need of humanitarian assistance to meet basic food needs.
- 280,000 children under five require treatment for moderate and severe acute malnutrition.
- Lack of access to safe water contributes to increase in diarrheal diseases including cholera with more than 4,300 confirmed cases this year.
1. ISSUES FOR CHILDREN
Multiple factors contribute to the deepening food security crisis in Kenya. The recent failure of the long rainy season (May – July) marks the third consecutive failed rainy season, seriously impacting the pastoral and south eastern marginal lowlands causing a substantial decline in both crop and livestock production. The lack of regeneration of pasture has resulted in early migration of livestock, depriving pastoral children of milk and resulting in an increase in conflicts and cattle rustling due to competition for water and pasture. During the long rains most parts of the country received between 10-50 per cent of the normal rainfall resulting in a decline in maize production of up to 28 per cent below the five year average. This will further exacerbate the consistently high food prices – with the staple food maize price between 100 – 130 per cent higher than the five year average and consistently higher than prices in 2008 when global attention was fixed on high food prices. The number of Kenyans in need of humanitarian assistance to meet basic food needs rose from 1.2 million in January to 3.8 million after an assessment concluded in August 2009. The number of children affected by acute malnutrition rose to 281,000 (242,000 children under the age of 5 years with moderate acute malnutrition and 39,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition) up from approximately 105,000 children at the beginning of the year. Recent nutritional survey findings indicate that levels of global acute malnutrition (GAM) are critical in Northern Arid Areas where rates are above 20 per cent1 (GAM rates above 15 per cent are considered critical by WHO). In addition, rates are above 10% and considered serious in districts that are not traditionally affected by acute malnutrition.2 In urban poor areas the situation is dire as households purchase virtually their whole food basket from the market and are therefore disproportionately affected by high food and commodity prices.
The successive poor rains have resulted in extremely limited surface water availability (water pans, dams and rivers) and decreases in the water table across the Northern and Arid areas as well as in other areas of the country with urban areas noting a significant decline in water availability and instituting water rationing. Distance to water for domestic use has tripled in some areas (25-30 km in Northern Pastoral areas) with only 2-6 litres of water available per person per day. The cost of water at household level has risen tenfold in some locations adding to stress on already stretched household resources. The limited availability of water has contributed to a rise in diarrheal disease including cholera with 4,316 cholera cases confirmed since the beginning of the year with 102 deaths. There is a rise in the number of cases of tuberculosis (including multidrug resistant TB already reported in refugee camps in Dadaab and Kakuma), leishmaniasis and measles given lowered immunity of malnourished children. Since the last measles immunization campaign in July of 2006, there has been an accumulation of susceptible cases capable of causing a massive outbreak. This heightened vulnerability to disease comes at a time when households are redirecting limited resources to buy food and reducing expenditure on health care. School feeding programmes are effective mechanisms for keeping children in school with only moderate drop out rates in districts with school feeding programmes; in districts without school feeding programmes declines in attendance have been recorded.
In the last quarter of the year an El Nino event is expected to bring enhanced rainfall to Eastern and Western Kenya and the possibility of widespread flooding, population displacement and the separation of children from their families, crop and livestock losses, disease outbreaks and the interruption of education. UNICEF is working closely with Government and partners including the Kenya Red Cross to prepare for the potential El Nino event by pre-positioning critical food and non food supplies and enhancing the populations' understanding of measures that they can take to protect themselves.
