AMREF is responding to the worst food crisis
in the east and horn of Africa for a decade by providing sustainable water
solutions and distributing emergency food. 5.4 million people are facing
extreme food shortages, lack of water, malnutrition, water-borne diseases
and deaths of livestock. The worst affected areas are northern and eastern
Kenya, southern Somalia and southern Ethiopia.
The region has been suffering from poor
rains for the last four years, but the failure of the short (October --
December) rains in 2005, exacerbated the situation.
In Kenya, the most-affected districts are in the north east, south east and coastal regions. Margaret Esakwa, of AMREF's Disaster Management Office visited Makueni district in south east Kenya last week and said: "The situation is getting worse. The water level in the boreholes has gone down by three metres and the crops are withering. There are some in the upper zones of Makueni but they have completely failed in the lower zones. The children I met were far below the accepted height for their age. There is also an influx of Maasai tribesmen from nearby Kajiado in search of water and pasture for their cattle".
However, people are still managing to grow food where AMREF has built wells and boreholes. To date, AMREF has built 1,200 wells and over 45 boreholes in the drought stricken areas. AMREF is also building open and subsurface dams and water pans (earth-banked reservoirs) to try and alleviate the situation, as well as supporting the construction of 46 km of gravity water pipelines.
Gerald Rukunga, AMREF's Water and Sanitation Manager, who recently visited Kajiado district, said: "The situation is getting worse and it will continue to get worse until it rains, probably in mid-March. And even then it will be a few more months before any crops are harvested. Most of the Maasai men have taken their cattle to Tanzania for pasture and the women and children are coping with what little they have at home. They have all moved to central points and you see lines and lines of women queueing for food, holding their malnourished babies. And everywhere you go, you come across the carcasses of dead animals".
Because of the severity of the situation, AMREF has decided to carry out emergency work in certain areas. In Makueni, AMREF is the lead agency in the World Food Programme Emergency Operation. Since September 2005, it has distributed 4,848 metric tonnes of food to 190,065 beneficiaries in 133 food distribution centres. The current operation will distribute a further 1,616 tonnes.
Margaret added: "As we have been working in the area for many years we were able to respond swiftly. Consequently, there have been no reported cases of famine-related deaths in the Makueni region. When I visited a distribution centre last week I spoke to a widow with five children. She told me that she didn't know what she would have done without the food. Other beneficiaries at the centre were anxious to know if the distribution was continuing as they would soon no longer be able to cope".
In Somalia, 1.4 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the southern region, where AMREF works. This is a result of two consecutive very poor rainy seasons, below normal March-May (Gu) rains and a complete failure of the October-December (Deyr) rains.
Dr Kennedy Manyonyi, medical co-ordinator for the Gedo Health Consortium (GHC), who is based in Gedo explained: "The situation is very bad. People are dying in many of the villages. 20-30% of cows have died, sheep are dying and the hardier goats and camels are weak".
The GHC, a project that AMREF runs along with Trócaire and Cordaid, is responding through the health facilities that it has helped to build up over the years. It is increasing the capacity of its therapeutic feeding centres, to cope with the increasing number of malnourished children. With support from UNICEF, it is now providing high-nutrient liquids to 140 severely malnourished children in Belet Xaawo, Luuq and Garbahare hospitals in the Gedo region. And in response to the increased number of children needing this support, the GHC will start a home-based feeding programme, distributing high-nutrient biscuits to 400 malnourished children.
The GHC is also training more health staff and community leaders to be able to cope with the emergency and is running immunisation and household water chlorination campaigns to try and avoid outbreaks of diseases.
In Ethiopia, 2.6 million people are facing severe food shortages in the Oromiya, Somali and Afar regions. AMREF works in the Afar region in the north east of the country, which has suffered consecutive years of drought and ethnic conflict. AMREF is increasing its work in the region providing clean water, immunising people against diseases and treating the severely malnourished through outreach clinics.
ENDS
For more information, please contact AMREF UK's Communications Manager, Louise Orton on 020 7471 6763 or l.orton@amrefuk.org