Nearly 4 Million People in Kenya on the Brink of Starvation, Severe Flooding Predicted in Many Drought Areas

WESTPORT, Conn. (Oct. 27, 2009) — Save the Children has launched emergency food aid programs to reach some of northeast Kenya's most vulnerable children and their families, all threatened by a hunger crisis brought on by consecutive crop failures and withering drought.

The entrenched drought and the resulting loss of livestock and family assets have pushed close to 4 million people in Kenya to the brink of starvation.

"Young children are the most vulnerable to the effects of hunger, which leave them weak and at greater risk of life-threatening diseases as well as threaten their cognitive and physical development," said Ned Olney, Save the Children's vice president for global humanitarian response.

Children in the village of Jowhar, in northeastern Kenya, watch in grief as the body of a two-year-old girl who died from malnutrition is laid to rest. Photo credit: Colin Crowley

He noted, "It has become a daily struggle for families to provide for their children. In Mandera, where Save the Children operates a nutrition program, one-third of the children are acutely malnourished. Over the long term, this will have tragic consequences for thousands of people, especially the very young."

Our Emergency Response in Kenya

Save the Children will provide treatment for malnourished children, as well as for pregnant women and mothers who are breastfeeding, ensuring that they receive the necessary therapeutic foods and medicines to bring them back to health.

The agency also will provide families with vouchers for protein-rich foods, like meat and milk; support livestock producers; and, with the Kenyan government, will work on a safety-net program that will help families provide for themselves and not be forced to sell off assets, including livestock.

Compounding the threats to children, seasonal rains are predicted to bring severe flooding in many of the drought areas. Save the Children is preparing for that eventuality by pre-positioning non-food items to be distributed in case families lose their already meager belongings in expected flooding.

Save the Children has worked in Kenya for more than 20 years.

How You Can Help

Donate now to support Save the Children's immediate and long term response to the current child hunger crisis in Kenya.

Learn more about the child hunger crisis.

Save the Children is the leading independent organization that creates lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 29 independent Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 120 countries. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.