Connect with us

WORLD

One in three children malnourished in epicentre of drought-hit Kenya – UN

Published

on

Edo Govt. maps out strategies to combat malnutrition

Three years of poor rains have triggered a national disaster in Kenya, with 2.6 million people hungry, critical rates of child malnutrition and devastating livestock deaths.

The United Nations said this in a statement on Thursday and appealed for 166 million dollars in aid.

It said more than 350,000 children, pregnant women and new mothers are acutely malnourished, with malnutrition rates above 30 per cent double the emergency threshold in three northern counties.

“We must act together now to avert further suffering,’’ Joseph Kinyua, Kenya’s head of public service and the president’s chief of staff said.

The U.N. has warned that the world faces the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War Two, with millions facing starvation and famine.

An alliance of British aid agencies on Wednesday launched an appeal for more than 16 million people facing starvation in East Africa, including Kenya.

Eastern and southern Africa were hard hit in 2016 by drought exacerbated by El Nino a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that wilted crops, slowed economic growth and drove food prices higher.

Half of Kenya is in crisis with large numbers of people on the move, particularly nomadic pastoralists in the north.

The government has allocated 100 million dollars to the emergency response, but more money is needed to provide life-saving food, health, water and sanitation services, the U.N. said.

“Conditions are likely to deteriorate if the next rainy season fails, as is currently predicted,’’ it said.

NEWSVERGE, published by The Verge Communications is an online community of international news portal and social advocates dedicated to bringing you commentaries, features, news reports from a Nigerian-African perspective. A unique organization, founded in the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, comprising of ordinary people with an overriding commitment to seeking the truth and publishing it without fear or favour. The Verge Communications is fully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a corporate organization.

NIGERIA DECIDES

NIGERIA DECIDES

Shell Digital Plan RESPONSIVE600x750
Shell Digital Plan RESPONSIVE600x750
GTB
JoinOurWhatsAppChannel