Kenya Drought

As of July, 1.2 million people in Kenya acutely need food assistance, an increase of 500,000 from February. Most food insecure people are in Garissa, Tana River, and Isiolo counties, in the centre-east. Such levels of food insecurity are typical for Kenya and do not represent any major deterioration.

This briefing note focuses on four counties in the pastoral northwest and northeast (Mandera, Marsabit, Turkana, West Pokot), and on two counties in southeast and coastal areas (Kilifi, Tana River). Tana River, Marsabit. and Kilifi are worst affected. Global acute malnutrition (GAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) rates are reported to be above the emergency threshold in West Pokot and Turkana, where malnutrition rates are often very high.