UN seeks Sh20b to fight hunger

By Standard Team

The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis caused by famine sweeping through the Horn of Africa came home after the United Nations said it needed about Sh20 billion to feed the hungry in Kenya.

So far, the UN has only received 52 per cent of the funds needed to stave off the crisis sparked by unprecedented drought and war, which forced hundreds of thousands to flee from the “triangle of death” straddling Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Many have ended up in the already swollen refugee camps in Kenya.

Up to 2.4 million Kenyans face death by starvation after drought destroyed their water sources and livestock. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is feeding 1.7 million, while the Government is targeting 800,000 refugees, most of them in Dadaab and Ifo in northern Kenya.

A nurse weighs a malnourished child at Wajir District Hospital in Nothern Kenya where three seasons without rain has resulted in acute food and water scarcity that has affected both man and animal. Head of the hospital Dr. Mohammed Hassan says some of the patients ''cannot wait even a day." Photo by Frank Odweso/Standard

“The most affected are in northern and northeastern Kenya, where food insecurity is expected to reach crisis levels in August and September,” said the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Kenya at a Press conference.

Through its Central Emergency Rapid Response Fund, the UN announced the release of Sh1.25 billion specifically to assist communities in arid areas and mitigate the effects of drought. Unicef’s Programme Representative in the country, Olivia Yambi also announced that 1.5 children in Kenya would be put under school feeding programme.

The Media Owners Association has also joined the aid effort. It has agreed to partner with the Kenya Red Cross and major corporate brands, Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank, to assist those caught in the grip of the worst humanitarian catastrophe the country has seen in decade.

Standard Group

All media houses, including the Standard Group Limited, have pledged their full support to the “Kenyans for Kenya Initiative” that will be launched on Wednesday.

So serious is the crisis that the UN warns it might reverse a huge chunk of gains made over the years in lowering deaths among children and battling illiteracy in an area where malnutrition rates are significantly higher than the rest of the country.

“The crisis is so serious that gains we have gained in child survival and education could easily be eroded,’ said Yambi.

The Emergency Fund also gave an additional Sh282 million to specifically support the refugee response in all its camps.

The European Union also announced it had released Sh3.6 billion on top of Sh9 billion the commission had given the region this year.

“We know this is a regional problem, but our response will be concentrated in Kenya where we work from. We call upon other agencies working in Somalia and the rest of the horn of Africa to expedite humanitarian assistance to avert further suffering,” said Aeneas Chuma, the UN humanitarian and resident coordinator In Kenya.

The WFP is airlifting food, water and medicine to refugee camps in northern Kenya and Somalia. In Kenya these include Dadaab and Ifo.

Major crisis

In separate Press conference, various humanitarian agencies described the ongoing famine situation as a major humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the number of deaths due to malnutrition and other diseases had shot up five times and called for more emergency aid for the refugees. The influx to Kenya by those fleeing drought and war in Somalia hit its peak in June-July, with about 60,000 new arrivals each month.

“In refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, deaths among Somali refugee children aged five or less have increased five-fold compared to last year. This is because most of them arrive when they are already too weak from malnutrition,” said Elike Segbor, regional UNHCR representative.

The UN agency also expressed concern about malnutrition in refugees aged five to 18 years. The new arrivals, it was observed, seem to be taking longer than normal to recover — sometimes up to 6 to 8 weeks — possibly because they arrive in such terrible shape.

“The influx has raised serious public health concerns both for the refugee population and the host community, where health facilities are in worse conditions than those available to refugees,” said Segbor.

It is estimated that some 70,000 new arrivals this year have spontaneously settled on the outskirts of Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, from where UNHCR is assisting them with water, latrines and health clinics, but overcrowding and related health and sanitation issues remain a concern.

The need to scale up feeding on nutritional supplements and general food distribution for the refugee population is another headache for the aid agencies implementing an emergency response strategy, but often help is arriving too late, particularly for those who have walked long distances and arrive in critical condition.

Malnutrition

For instance, on July 18, 15 deaths from malnutrition and other diseases were reported in Kobe, a camp opened last month that is already full with 25,000 refugees. A new camp, Hilaweyn, is nearing completion, and will hold up to 60,000 people. UNHCR said they expect to move people from the Dollo Ado transit centre within the next two weeks.

EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, while announcing funding of the aid effort said: “We must all do more to help not just those families who through no fault of their own have been forced to become refugees but also those victims in Somalia”.

Although the Government was thanked for the generosity it had shown to Somali refugees, it was chided for doing little to mitigate drought.  Last week the Government announced it needed at least Sh10.5 billion to respond to the emergency, but the UN argues the same amount could be used to set up mechanism such as rain harvesting and irrigation projects that can prevent such humanitarian crises.

Oxfam’s Regional Director, Fran Equiza said it was morally indefensible that several rich countries and donors had failed to contribute generously. The Kenya Red Cross has called on individuals and corporate institutions to come out and assist Kenyans hit by drought.

Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said they needed Sh1.1 billion to assist some 855,000 people severely affected by drought in Turkana.

He said the situation in northern Kenya called for urgent attention from both the Government and the public as many lives were at risk.

“We don’t have to wait for BBC to be aware of the situational crisis in northern Turkana. What you saw on Tuesday on TV is a clear indication of how terrible the condition is,” he said.

Mr Gullet said it was the task of the Red Crescent to assist Somalis who had flocked the Kenyan borders. He was speaking during the flagging off event where GlaxoSmithKline company donated 30 tonnes of food aid worth Sh3.6 million.

combat hunger

GSK Managing Director John Musunga said the company would continue to partner with Kenya Red Cross to combat hunger and drought in northern Kenya.

“The number one priority is provision of food to our brothers and sisters, I therefore call on anyone willing to assist them to come out and help, ” he said.

Reports indicate that the drought situation is currently affecting between 3 to 3.5 million people with an estimated 250,000 children below the age of five years affected by moderate malnutrition nationally while 40,000 face acute malnutrition.

The donation came at a time when efforts to manage the growing threat of hunger especially in Kenya’s northern-frontier districts is being stepped up.