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Kenya Country Office Monthly Humanitarian Situation Report September-December 2015

Attachments

Highlights:

  • A total of 11,332 and 19,592 under-five children in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps respectively, from January to December 2015, received Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) services for severe and moderate acute malnutrition.

  • UNICEF provided medical supplies (Ringers Lactate, Oral Rehydration Solution and antibiotics), which were used in the treatment of 211,283 children in cholera-affected counties from January to December 2015.

  • Through the Kenya Red Cross Society partnership for El Nino emergency interventions, 30,000 households across Garissa, Homa bay, Kisumu, Migori, Tana River and Wajir counties were provided with one-and-a-half months of WASH supplies for household water treatment.

  • In the last quarter of 2015, Best Interest Assessments were undertaken and case plans developed and implemented for 174 children (90 girls and 84 boys) in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, while 407 children (194 girls and 213 boys) had Best Interest Determination cases successfully processed. Medical and psychosocial assistance through an enhanced service referral process was provided to 150 children (83 girls and 67 boys) affected by Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV).

  • Over 7,300 children have received education supplies in six arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) counties through partnerships with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Rural Organization for Advocacy and Development (ROAD) and World Vision. Under the Peace-building Education and Advocacy programme in the Dadaab Refugee Camp, 565 teachers were trained in methodologies supporting alternative education and peace-building, benefitting 64,075 children (40 per cent female).

  • A total of 12,186 adolescents and young people in ASAL counties and urban informal settlements utilized the UNICEF-supported toll-free Call Centre to receive counselling and information on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and HIV and a total of 128 Adolescent Peer Educators and 65 adolescent advocates were trained. A network of 1500 adolescents living with HIV continued to receive HIV information through the Sauti Sikika initiative while 263 (112 Male and 151 female) adolescents living with HIV benefitted from peer support groups.

Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs:

  • The continuing cholera outbreak in 22 counties, including in the Dadaab Refugee Camp and El Nino-related flooding presented the greatest challenges in the last quarter of 2015. Kenya is experiencing localized flooding associated with the El Niño weather phenomenon. The Kenya Red Cross Society reports indicate that starting from November up to end December 2015, floods and landslides/mudslides had affected 40,121 households (approximately 240,726 people) and 17,254 households (approximately 103,524 people) had been displaced across the country, while 130 lives were lost and 73 injuries reported. In Tana River County, a total of 44 internally-displaced (IDP) camps have been established, hosting 3,881 households. According to the Kenya Red Cross and the Kenya Initial Rapid Assessments (KIRA) in Garissa and Tana River, displaced populations lack safe water, shelter, sanitation, food and non-food items, exposing them to the risk of waterborne diseases such as acute watery diarrhoea, malaria and Rift Valley Fever. By 28 December 2015, 10,221 cases and 174 deaths (CFR=1.7 per cent) had been reported nationally in 22 counties, including 1,216 cases with 11 deaths in the Dadaab Refugee Camp.1

  • The cholera outbreak was brought under control in 16 counties due to an intensified response by the Government and partners. By the end of the year, only seven counties were reporting active outbreaks. Of these, two are in the 1st wave (Marsabit and Wajir) while three are in the 2nd wave (Garissa, Mombasa and Nakuru), one in the 3rd wave (Siaya) and the 4th wave (Nairobi). Additional targeted interventions are therefore required to successfully stop the outbreak.

  • The Famine and Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) food security update for December 2015 projects improved food security in the pastoral areas due to above-average short rains. Increased milk consumption and income from the sale of livestock is expected to result in a decline of malnutrition cases among children. However, households in parts of Garissa, Isiolo, Kwale, Makueni and Wajir will remain stressed (minimally adequate food consumption but unable to afford some essential non-food expenditures) through March 2016 due to the below average rainfall received in these areas.

  • As per the Long Rains Assessment 2015, the total number of children under-five years of age requiring treatment for acute malnutrition (total caseloads) in the ASAL areas has dropped to 239,446 compared to 261,120 reported in the 2015 Short Rains Assessment (SRA). However, the number of children in the ASAL areas admitted to programmes responding to severe acute malnutrition remains high at an average of 3,000 per month.

  • Since the December 2013 influx2, the influx of refugees into the Kakuma Refugee Camp continues due to the prolonged conflict in South Sudan. As of 30 December 20153, 48,522 new arrivals have been recorded/registered (67 per cent children). Of these, 748 (151 female,597 male) are unaccompanied minors (UAMs) and 5,138 (1,851 female, 3,287 male) are separated children. Not all unaccompanied and separated children are in family care due to shortage of foster families, inadequate shelter and resource constraints, thus exposing them to protection risks. UNHCR estimates that 9,000 additional South Sudanese refugees will be received in Kakuma in 2016.

  • Inter-communal conflicts, terrorism, food insecurity, El Nino flooding and the cholera outbreak have continued to disrupt learning in disaster-prone counties especially in Baringo, Mandera, Pokot, Turkana and Wajir where teacher absenteeism remains high. This was further exacerbated by the lack of implementing partners on the ground as well as the teachers’ strike that lasted for five weeks between September and October 2015.

  • A needs assessment conducted by the International Rescue Committee in December 2015 focusing on HIV services provided to children and adolescents within the Kakuma Refugee Camp revealed gaps in paediatric HIV services, specifically, the integration of early diagnosis of paediatric HIV in MCH/Immunization clinics, decentralization of PMTCT services as well as weaknesses in the early infant diagnosis processes. There were also gaps noted in providing adolescent-friendly services that ranged from infrastructural deficiencies to weak participation of adolescents and community members in the provision of adolescent-related health services. Weaknesses were also found in the quality assurance of HIV services and in the M&E system, which is not fully responsive to the needs of adolescents.