Mt. Kenya becomes the second region to be placed on high alert in need of humanitarian support as a result of severe drought.
Laikipia, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, and Nyeri are just a few of the counties that have been suffering from a severe drought since the year began and need food, water, and care for both people and livestock. Kiambu, Kirinyaga, and Murang’a counties have now joined those counties in this category.
The counties have reported 942,000 cases of children aged six to 59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating mothers critically malnourished and in need of treatment.
Alarms have also been raised in the counties of Marsabit, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kwale, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, Kitui, Kajiado, and Mandera. With the bad rainfall, Lamu, Embu, Narok, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Meru, and Nyeri will likely be in the warning zone.
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Farmers have been unable to produce substantial agricultural yields for five consecutive seasons due to the extended drought, and pastoralist communities have lost animals. More than 2.4 million cattle, on which pastoralist people rely for food, have died in Kenya.
With the worsening of the drought, the population of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the ASALs now stands at 4.35 million, according to the 2022 Long Rains Food and Nutritional Security Assessment Report.
The underperformance of the long rains means that pasture conditions are below normal, and with expectations for further below-average short rains, the situation in the ASALs will only worsen.
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