Nairobi, Jan 21 (IANS) The number of Kenyans facing food insecurity and requiring humanitarian assistance remains alarmingly high at 1.8 million, with arid regions continuing to bear the severe effects of climate change, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) said Tuesday.

The NDMA said in a report released in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that those affected are mainly in the 23 arid and semi-arid counties of the East African nation.

"The counties of Wajir, Garissa, Turkana, Marsabit, and Mandera have the highest proportions of food insecure populations," said the government agency responsible for mitigating drought effects.

The institution noted that the number of affected people has leveled at 1.8 million since November 2024, with levels of acute malnutrition remaining elevated in several arid counties, including Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Baringo, and Turkana.

Some 479,498 children aged six to 59 months as well as 110,169 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers were currently acutely malnourished and in need of urgent treatment, according to the NDMA, Xinhua news agency reported.

NDMA observed that the worsening nutrition trend in affected counties resulted from inadequate and unbalanced food intake due to high poverty and disease prevalence.

According to NDMA, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Kenya stood at 1.8 million in December 2024.

In a report issued in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, the NDMA said that the figure increased from a million in July 2024, following a "drought phase" especially in the 23 arid and semi-arid regions of the East African nation.

The agency noted that some 39 per cent of the arid counties reported a nutrition situation worse than usual at this time of year, which could be attributed to the limited number of outreach activities delivering essential nutrition services coupled with the high morbidity rates.

Among regions with cases of malnutrition are Baringo, Turkana, Kitui, Laikipia, Lamu, Makueni and West Pokot, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier, a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development showed that the number of food-insecure people in the Horn of Africa stood at 64.8 million as of November, with climate shocks being the primary drivers.

Courtesy Media Group: IANS

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