Drought in Kenya has affected almost three million people; about half of them are young children badly affected by the worsening food shortages.
According to UNICEF, The hardest hit counties by the drought are Baringo, Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, and Wajir.
The latest figures as of the end of February show that 2.7 million people are in need of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) assistance, 1.1 million children are food insecure, while over 100,000 children under 5 are in need of treatment for severe malnutrition. An additional 174,000 children are out of school as a direct result of the drought.
On 10th February the Government declared a national drought emergency, with 23 of 47 counties affected. In the last few months the number of food insecure people more than doubled – from 1.3 million to 2.7 million.
The UNICEF country director for Kenya, Werner Schultink, said an estimated 180,000 children had dropped out school at the beginning of the year in the 10 regions worst affected by the drought. The agency anticipates more than 100,000 children will need treatment for severe malnourishment by the end of the year.
“I think that if there is continued shortage (of water) we are truly going to see a very bad impact on life and well-being of the population here in northern Kenya,” he said.
