The drought situation continues to deteriorate in 21 out of the 23 ASAL counties in Kenya, due to the four failed consecutive rain seasons and the depressed October – December 2022 (short rains) season. Fourteen counties are in ALARM phase; 7 are in ALERT phase and only 2 are at NORMAL phase, and drought is affecting about 4.5 million people, (compared to 2.1 million in September 2021), of these approximately 2.14 million are children.
A total of 10,316 children (5,406 girls and 4,910 boys) were admitted for treatment of severe acute malnutrition and 184,582 caregivers, families and community members were reached with nutrition messages in reporting period in the target counties in October.
A total of 164,715 people (41,152 men, 42,826 women, 39,531 boys and 41,206 girls) were reached with safe water through the rehabilitation of 39 non-functional boreholes and solarization of 6 boreholes in Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Mandera and Turkana counties in October.
A total of 25,730 people (4,271 Girls, 4,538 Boys, 10,127 Women and 6,794 Men) were reached with critical life-saving integrated outreach services linked to targeted and supported health facilities in October.
A total of 5,022 out of school children (2,320 girls & 2,702 boys) in the counties of Baringo, Samburu, Kwale, Turkana and West Pokot were supported to re-enroll in school in October. School dropouts due to lack of water and school meals are being reported.
5,555 children (2,903 girls, 2,652 boys) reached with access to mental health and psychosocial support.
2,058 households consisting of 2,606 children (1,324 girls and 1,282 boys) reached with humanitarian cash transfers, integrated with other UNICEF-supported outreach services, such as nutrition and health treatment, plus referrals for child protection cases and disability card registration.
UNICEF’s funding requirements to provide life-saving services in health, nutrition, WASH, protection, and education over the period the period April – December 2022 has been revised to align with the revision of the Kenya Flash appeal and stands at US$ 126.9 million with funding gap of US$ 91.9 million or 72 per cent.
Funding Overview and Partnerships
With the drought situation continuing to deteriorate, UNICEF Kenya has revised its drought emergency response plan due to the increase in the people in need and in line with the revision of the Kenya Inter-Agency Drought Flash Appeal 2022. The financial requirements have increased from USD 67.8 million to USD 126.9 million (87 per cent increase) to provide life-saving services to the drought affected children and women covering the period of April to December 2022 (see Annex B). Approximately US$35 million (28 per cent) has been received (new funds, carry-over and repurposed), leaving a funding gap of USD 91.8 million (72 per cent). Soft funding pipeline funding is approximately USD 13 million mainly from USAID/BHA, ECHO EDF, Canadian Government (CIDA), Education Cannot Wait ECW, Australian Natcom – Horn of Africa Drought, Ireland Drought Flash Appeal, Germany AA flexible humanitarian funding and FCDO for various UNICEF sectors delivering critical lifesaving interventions.
The new government has scaled up its leadership and coordination role for partners responding to the drought emergency. According to NDMA the Government of Kenya (GoK) expenditure to date, has gone up slightly by KES 2 billion to approximately KES 13.7 billion (USD 100 million) out of the KES 15.63 billion (USD 135 million) allocated for the 2021/22 financial year on emergency cash, relief food, livestock, water provision, school feeding and RUTF in drought affected counties.
The European Commission/ECHO, USAID, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Government of Japan, Norway, Irish Aid, German Natcom, Netherlands Committee for UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Japan Committee for UNICEF, and UN OCHA (CERF) have generously contributed to UNICEF Kenya’s humanitarian response against the drought appeal. UNICEF continues to support the Government of Kenya at both the National and County level, civil society organizations (CSOs) and other humanitarian partners to respond to the drought affected population’s needs.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The drought situation continues to deteriorate in 21 of the 23 ASAL counties, due to the four consecutive, failed rainy seasons, as well as the late onset and poorly distributed October–December 2022 (short rains) season1 resulting in an increase in the people in need from 4.2 million to 4.5 million people3 (up from 2.1 million in September 2021), of these approximately 2.14 million are children. Fourteen counties are in ALARM phase, 7 are in ALERT phase and only 2 are in the NORMAL phase.
Nearly a million (884,464) 6-59 months children are acutely malnourished and in need of treatment in ASAL, with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) caseload of 222,720 and Moderate Malnutrition (MAM) of 661,744. 115,725 pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
The main drivers of malnutrition include acute food insecurity characterized by low milk availability due to below-average milk production in 20 of the 23 ASAL counties, unfavourable terms of trade for livestock and crops, high food prices, increased morbidity and water stress which is expected to continue through to the end of the year.
Three rounds of nutrition mass screenings have been conducted between January and October 2022 across Marsabit, Turkana, Garissa, Samburu, Wajir, Isiolo, Baringo, Kitui and Tana River counties. The 3rd round of mass screening took place in October 2022 and a total of 138,076 children were screened of which 23,036 (16.6 per cent) were moderately acutely malnourished and 7,310 (5.2 per cent) were severely acutely malnourished.
Around 20 to 30% of the population in ASALs have minimal to no access to essential health services and are mainly served through biweekly integrated health outreaches. Outpatient attendance in health facilities has reduced by about 42% due to several factors including population movement, poorly supplied health facilities, insecurity, and the inadequate scale of outreaches. For instance, in October 2022, the average stockout rate of essential medicines was about 61% in Garissa, Marsabit and Wajir Counties of 12 tracer drugs for children and women was. The main reasons for stock outs included poor fill rates, delayed supply, delayed payments and some counties fail to submit 100% order requested by facilities.
In 17 counties, the household distances to water are currently above the Long-Term Average (LTA), which compared to the previous month are increasing and range from 2.6 km to 7.7 km.
The Ministry of Health has reported a Cholera outbreak in Dadaab refugee camps, with a total of 157 confirmed cases, of which two are from the host community, and two deaths. A joint support supervisory mission by the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, UNHCR and Partners was conducted in the camps and three Cholera Treatment Canters (CTCs) have been set up to respond. A measles outbreak has also been reported in Marsabit, Wajir, Garissa (including Dadaab refugee camps), Turkana, and Mandera Counties, with 212 cases (64 confirmed) and 2 deaths (CFR 0.9%). The Ministry of Health is supporting active case search in all facilities in the affected sub-counties and has sensitized health workers on standard case definition of Measles and reporting of cases. The National government through the Division of Disease Surveillance and Response (DDSR) and National Vaccines and Immunization programme (NVIP) is planning to conduct Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) campaigns between 9th – 18th December in all the seven affected counties of Turkana, Marsabit, West Pokot, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Nairobi and targeting about 1.18 million children of 9-59 months.
A total of 568,3256 refugees and asylum seekers continue to live in Kenya as of 31 October 2022, 53.4% of whom are from Somalia, 25.1% from South Sudan, 8.9% from Congo and 5.6% from Ethiopia and the remaining are from other nationalities. Out of this 42% each live in Kakuma/Kalobeyei and Dadaab and 16% in urban settlements. According to UNHCR, there has been a notable increase in the number of people crossing into Dadaab Refugee Camps in search of humanitarian assistance, mainly food, because of the ongoing drought in the Gedo region in Somalia. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has reported that over 55,000 refugees from Somalia fleeing drought and conflict have arrived at Dadaab Refuge Camps in the last two months and a total 120,000 refugee arrivals are expected by early 2023.
Source: UN Children’s Fund