The sad face of hunger
Elaar Tipen from Kerio village in Turkana district, Kenya is a year and two months old, the only meal available to him (breast milk) is no more because his mother has recently died. Elaar is now left under the care of his grandmother, who only has black tea and water to feed him if and when available and extracts from palm tree seeds. Elaar is now severely malnourished and without food and proper treatment, he is in real danger of dying.
Situation is unlikely to improve
The food security situation in Kenya is unlikely to improve in the coming months and will deteriorate further in the arid and the semi-arid lands as they enter a dry spell (June-September) after the failed March-to-May long rains.
Most parts of the North and North Eastern Kenya are now in the emergency phase of acute food insecurity and if nothing is done, these areas will slide into a catastrophe or famine. Other parts like the coastal region are in crisis level and are rapidly moving to the emergency phase.
3.5m Kenyans affected
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) puts the number of people in desperate need of emergency food aid in Kenya as at June, 2011, at 3.5 million. Only 1.6 million are currently benefitting from the Government's and WFP's food distribution program under the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO).
Indicators of the deteriorating food security situation such as the nutrition status of children, access to water, livestock body condition, and market functionality are showing negative trends in most districts.
Food prices remain high
Staple food and fuel prices are likely to remain high, putting a further strain on the urban poor population who are currently facing serious food insecurity following rapid increase in food and fuel prices.
The increasing food prices have continued to have a negative effect on the children whose parents cannot afford buy food and this has left many children starved and malnourished.
World Vision’s response
World Vision has been active in Kenya for over 30 years. Our staff experts in the area of emergency response are on the ground continuously assessing the situation, providing food and water rations to the population as well as running feeding programmes for malnourished children.
We can only continue our work with your help.
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