Kenya 2022 Drought Response in Review

Key Figures

PEOPLE IN NEED: 4.5M

PEOPLE TARGETED: 2.6M

PEOPLE REACHED: 1.72M

% REACHED: 66%

REQUIREMENTS: $290M

FUNDED: $163M

% FUNDED: 56%

OPERATIONAL PARTNERS: 92

% OF NATIONAL NGO PARTNERS: 36%

OVERVIEW

In 2022, the unprecedented drought in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) counties of Kenya—marked by five consecutive below-average rainy seasons since the end of 2020—drove a dramatic increase in humanitarian needs. By the end of the year, the situation was critical in 22 out of 23 ASALs counties due to poor performance of the October-December 2022 short rains, according to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).

Food insecurity and acute malnutrition rose significantly over the course of the year, as communities’ ability to cope was eroded by back-to-back droughts. High acute food insecurity increased by 80 per cent in 2022, from an estimated 2.4 million people in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse in January to nearly 4.4 million people in Crisis or worse, including 1.2 million in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), by December. At least 2.5 million livestock had died due to the drought by December 2022. By October 2022, nearly 885,000 children under the age of five and over 115,700 pregnant or lactating women were likely to be acutely malnourished and in need of treatment, with some areas seeing acute malnutrition rates more than double the emergency threshold.

The drought increased the risk of disease and death and had devastating consequences for the health of affected communities. Nearly 5 million people did not have access to enough water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, with specific consequences for women and girls, who often compromised their own needs—including menstrual hygiene— to provide for their families. Women and girls also faced heightened risks during childbirth due to lack of access to clean water and increased home deliveries. A cholera outbreak was declared in October 2022 in Kiambu County and rapidly spread to another 10 counties, including Garissa, Kajiado, Meru and Wajir in ASAL region, affecting about 2,000 people, including 31 who died, by the end of the year.

Displacement and protection risks rose as the drought deepened. Women and girls faced increased gender-based violence—including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, early marriages and female genital mutilation—and had to walk longer distances to access water and food. There were also growing reports of people—primarily from pastoralist communities—arriving into urban and peri-urban areas in the ASAL region in search of new livelihoods and assistance. In addition, an estimated 45,000 asylum seekers arrived in Kenya from neighbouring Somalia in 2022, according to the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR).

Humanitarian action in Kenya significantly scaled-up in response to the rapidly escalating drought emergency, in full complementarity with Government-led relief efforts. Over 1.7 million people received assistance from 93 humanitarian organizations in 2022 under the Drought Flash Appeal that was initially launched in October 2021. Nearly 775,000 people were reached with food and livelihood assistance. About 459,000 children and pregnant and lactating women were treated for acute malnutrition and/or received awareness-raising on infant and young child-feeding practices. Some 336,700 people received critical health-care services and nearly 1.4 million were assisted to access clean and safe drinking water. The response was also robustly prioritized, with 68 per cent of people who were reached with assistance located in Priority 1 areas.

However, delayed and inadequate funding caused major challenges for the response, which fell far short of needs. Less than 56 per cent of the amount required under the Flash Appeal in 2022 was received by the end of December (US$188 million out of $359 million), and nearly 70 per cent of this came from a single donor, the United States of America.