Kenya Drought Response Dashboard (January to September 2023)

SITUATION UPDATE

Pastoral areas remained in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) as the lean season concluded, according to Famine Early Warning System Network. Pastoral households continued to engage in coping strategies to minimize food consumption. Water resources were seasonally declining in the pastoral areas. Fuel prices hit historically high levels on 15 September, a 9 to 20 per cent increase since mid-August. The high prices were being driven by higher landing costs of fuel, increases in value-added tax and the removal of subsidies on petroleum products. The increased fuel prices were driving up the costs of food and non-food commodities due to the increased production and transportation costs. Staple food prices remained high, driven by atypically low market availability following successive below-average production seasons.

Following five consecutive below-average rainy seasons which affected Arid and Semi-Arid counties, humanitarian partners aimed to assist 4.3 million people in the most severely affected areas. Some 2 million people, 46 per cent of the target, have received some form of vital assistance from January to September under the 2023 Drought Response Plan for Kenya.

Humanitarian partners reached more than 484,000 people with nutrition assistance.
This includes supporting more than 250,000 children with moderate acute malnutrition, 100,000 children with severe acute malnutrition, and 139,000 pregnant and lactating women with acute malnutrition received treatment. Around 650,000 refugees received essential aid and more than one million people received food assistance which is 51 per cent of the target.

Some 62,000 children accessed Early Childhood Development (ECD) schools and 51,000 children and youth benefitted from resilience enhancing programmes.
More than 236,000 pregnant women completed 4 antenatal care visits and 302,000 children under five years old with diarrhea have been treated with ORS and Zinc.
At least 70,000 people were reached through awareness-raising and/or messaging on prevention of gender-based violence and about 8,000 people received core gender-based violence services.

About 9,000 unaccompanied and separated girls and boys in humanitarian contexts were provided with alternative care and/or reunified.

At least 524,000 people accessed water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene while 48,000 people have been reached with critical water, sanitation and hygiene supplies and services including hygiene kits.

The Kenya Drought Response Plan, which is seeking $452 million, was 75 per cent funded by the end of September. However, there are still funding shortfalls for some sectors such as education which received only 7 per cent of the funding requirements, and the health sector which has received just 8 per cent.