Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Kenya

Kenya - Drought - Emergency Appeal Operation (EPoA) DREF n° MDRKE039 Update n° 4

Attachments

Summary of the revision made to the Emergency Plan of Action

This update provides an overview on Kenya Red Cross Society actions for the response to date and seek for a timeframe extension for an additional three months until 28 February 2018. The second appeal revision which was done in March 2017 was to increase the budget to 25,062,572 Swiss Francs and target beneficiaries to 1,033,300. The emergency appeal is currently 26 percent funded (CHF 6,453,908).

The severity of the drought has continued to increase with number of people affected increasing to 3.4 Million as at August 2017 from 3 million in mid-March 2017. As a result, KRCS seeks to extend the end date from 23 November 2017 to 28 February 2018. This will allow implementation of cash transfer, livelihood, WASH and health activities in the following counties that continue to experience severe drought and shift to early recovery activities in counties that have received substantial rainfall.
Please refer to the revised emergency appeal 2, operation update 1, operation update 2, and operation update 3 for more information on the evolving drought situation in Kenya.

A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

The drought situation in the country has been on a worsening trend following consecutive seasons of poor rainfall performance during the March-April-May 2016, October-November-December 2016 and March-AprilMay 2017 rainfall seasons. The situation is especially severe in the pastoral areas as livestock productivity and prices continue to decline, constraining income and food availability (FEWSNET, September 2017). In addition, food prices have remained high further constraining access by poor households. The situation is compounded by the expected low harvest of the long rains’ season due to poor performance of the long rains’ season and the infestation of Fall Armyworm.

Malnutrition levels have continued to worsen especially in Turkana (East, South and North) and Marsabit (North Horr) where they are at extremely Critical level while they are at Critical levels in Baringo (East Pokot), Garissa, Mandera, Turkana (Turkana West), Samburu, West Pokot, and Marsabit (Laisamis).

According to the NDMA early warning bulletin (August 2017), seven counties are at Alarm phase (Wajir, Tana River, Kilifi, Kajiado, Isiolo and Garissa) while another 10 are at the Alert phase. In the 17 counties at Alarm and Alert Phase, the situation is on a worsening trend highlighting the need for continued interventions to prevent further deterioration. Approximately 3.4 million people are currently food insecure in the country.