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Government Spokesperson Col Rtd Cyrus Oguna addressing Inua Jamii beneficiaries in Marigat in Baringo county on July 18, 2019. [Kipsang Joseph/Standard]
The Government has dismissed reports of acute malnutrition in Baringo County. Speaking in Marigat, Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna said the incident that was reported in a section of the media was just an isolated case. He termed the report as sensational, adding that no statistics were backing up claims.
“No medical reports are supporting the claims,” he told journalists during Inua Jamii initiative function. His stand seems to contradict a report by a government agency-National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) that revealed 19.8 per cent of children under the age of five were at risk of malnutrition.
The report further stated that as of June 2019, case of malnutrition among children under the age of five was on the rise in the county.
On Thursday The Standard reported that five children from a family in Margat were taken to Kabarnet Hospital following a severe malnutrition attack. The family had also previously lost two other children under the same circumstances.
The Baringo south medical officer Roseline Leiro said the children were examined and found to be malnourished.
The children’s mother too said; “We do not have enough food to feed them and so the stagnated growth”
At the meeting, Oguna insisted that the media should shift their focus from just doing a story for the sake of selling out.
“Let’s not focus on selling our newspapers,” he said.
The procurement and supply chain management officer; Simeone Kiprop said they had not received the food supply in the months of May and June and it is on July, last Monday when the county had received their fourth confinement which again is yet to be distributed.
It targets the whole population of Baringo County including Primary and day Secondary schools, sick people, orphans, children, people with disability and IDPs.
Kiprop also confirmed that the available food; 600 bags of maize, 300 bags of beans, 100 bags of rice, and 40 cartons of cooking oil is not enough to fully satisfy the whole county.
He stated that an estimate of 1000 bags of maize, 500 bags of beans and 400 bags of rice would probably be enough, again not for more than two or three days.
The report by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) reveals that 19.8% of children under the age of five, as of June 2019 are at risk of malnutrition.
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