KEY MESSAGES
• Drought conditions remain critical: Due to drought, water stress is acute, milk production and livestock prices are well below normal, and livestock mortality is rising in the following counties: Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kilifi, Laisamis, Narok, Samburu (East), Tana River, and Wajir (South and West).
• Other drought-affected areas are no longer in crisis: In some other Arid and Semi-arid lands (ASAL) areas, particularly in the northwest and in parts of the coast, conditions have returned to normal following significant off-season rainfall in recent months. However, in all ASAL counties, staple food prices remain well above normal, at a time when market dependence is high in the wake of successive poor seasons.
• Acute malnutrition: World Vision continues to respond to child malnutrition, with more than 420,000 children and nearly 37,000 pregnant and lactating women requiring treatment for acute malnutrition across the country. Many areas continue to have Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates over the emergency threshold of 15 per cent.
• Presidential election: The country’s security situation has returned to normal after a volatile few months. Violence spiked in November in many informal settlements in Nairobi and Kisumu following the repeat presidential election held on the 26th October 2017, which was boycotted by the main opposition party.
• Access to health care services: After 150 days, the nurses’ national strike which begun in June was called off by the nurses’ union in November 2017. Nurses were ordered to resume their duties and restore health services across the country. The strike negatively affected maternal and child health along with, HIV and nutrition services.
• Scaling up response: In relation to the drought response interventions, the World Vision Kenya Flash Appeal has a funding gap of US $19.1M. Without additional funding, World Vision Kenya will be unable to optimally support the drought emergency response, and mitigate the risks of a worsening situation for children.