UNICEF says three million children face death by malnutrition

The situation for children in drought-stricken areas of Kenya is deteriorating according to UNICEF. Country Director Dr Nicholas Alipu, in a recent report in the ‘East African Standard’, said “three million children are threatened by death from malnutrition in drought-hit districts of Kenya.” Alipu said in the report that the situation was accelerating at an alarming rate and would turn catastrophic in the next three months if emergency measures are not taken. He added that according to a rapid assessment carried out recently in the worst-hit districts of Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir and Garissa in northern and eastern Kenya, some 25 to 30 percent of children in the regions suffer from malnutrition. Calling the situation acute, he said the children need more food aid and appealed to the donor community to hasten the disbursement of funds to help alleviate the problem. UNICEF Information Officer Greg Owino told IRIN on Wednesday that UNICEF was following a multifaceted intervention program. “In addition to general food distribution which we are doing in collaboration with WFP, we are also heavily involved in non-food intervention. Non-food intervention included the provision of medical kits to all district hostels and health centers”, he added. In addition, nutritional surveys were being conducted in 11 of the worst drought-hit districts. The aim of doing this was to firstly “establish the magnitude of the problem and then use these results to target the distribution of supplementary food.” he said.