Kenya

NAIROBI, KENYA—An estimated 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are in urgent need of assistance as drought-like conditions threaten to push populations into a devastating nutritional crisis, warns humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger | ACF International.

NAIROBI, KENYA — As a severe food crisis sweeps across the Greater Horn of Africa, an estimated 10 million people are faced with food shortages, mass livestock losses, and protracted drought-like conditions. In Kenya alone, some 3.5 million people have been declared food insecure, with significant numbers facing catastrophic conditions after consecutive years of below-average rainfall that have resulted in one of the driest years since 1950.

Last month Action Against Hunger | ACF International began training its national and international staff based in East and Central Africa at a brand-new center in Nairobi, Kenya. Maxine Clayton, the driving force behind the initiative, sat down with us to discuss the center and its impact on ACF’s ability to prevent and treat malnutrition in the region.

Daisy Nyaga is a Public Health Program Manager with Action Against Hunger in Kenya. She works with families to improve their health and prevent illnesses like malaria, dysentery, and cholera that kill millions of children every year and devastate families and entire communities. In recognition of her outstanding work on behalf of communities in distress, Daisy was honored with the Staff Honoree of the Year at the Action Against Hunger Annual Gala on November 18th.

Kenya held elections on December 27th, 2007 and the skewed results led to accusations of ballot fixing. The aftermath of the results led to ethnic violence between a number of different communities that had supported the leading parties. Homes and businesses were burned and looted, water points poisoned, families separated, women were raped, and over 1,200 people were killed.

This February, thanks in part to generous grants from the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Starr International Foundation, Action Against Hunger launched a new initiative to prevent severe acute malnutrition in the Mandera District of northeastern Kenya. This remote, arid region struggles with a seasonal and often devastating “hunger gap” that begins in May and causes malnutrition rates to spike well beyond crisis levels. As a result, the lives of thousands of young children are jeopardized every year.