WaKenya Tulindane drive distributes food in nine counties
Over 320,000 people drawn from 53,400 families in Kajiado, Isiolo, Samburu, Mandera, Kitui, Kilifi, Wajir, Marsabit and Turkana counties have received food donations worth Kes150 million from the National Steering Committee on Drought Response.
The initiative is as part of its short-term strategies of mitigating the ongoing drought that has left over 6 million Kenyans at risk of hunger. The committee recently announced it had raised KES 650 million from Kenyans as part of drought response efforts.
“We are reaching out to some of the hardest hit communities with food hampers as part of our immediate plan measures as the Committee. We have other plans such as rehabilitation of boreholes in most of the ASAL counties that will seek to create a greater sustainability in dealing with the drought as we collaborate with the government and other stakeholders for longer term measures that will alleviate this drought crisis,” said Peter Ndegwa, Chairman, National Steering Committee on Drought Response.
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The latest data from the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) shows that 6 million Kenyans from 32 counties are food insecure with the persisting drought set to continue due to depressed rainfall.
At least 970,000 children and 142,000 pregnant women are malnourished with urgent lifesaving interventions needed. The number of malnourished children has risen from 884,000 children as at July 2022.
The latest data from NDMA also shows that in Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera, and Garissa counties at least 55 percent of the population is in crisis. The report also shows that over 2.6 million heads of livestock have died as a result of the drought. Water availability has been suppressed with 60 percent of open water sources drying up and most permanent rivers recording below 40 percent of normal flow.
The latest food distribution by the Steering Committee is a follow-up to the one carried out in December last year where at least 85,000 people received food donations in sub-counties in Samburu, Meru, Kitui, Kilifi, and Marsabit.
