NAIROBI, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Kenya has risen to two million, according to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).
The majority of those requiring assistance are victims of the October to December 2023 El Nino rains in some of the country's 23 arid and semi-arid areas. At the end of January, the NDMA estimated that the number of people in need of assistance stood at 1.5 million.
"Acute malnutrition has also been noted across the counties, with 847,932 children aged six to 59 months and 124,359 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers malnourished acutely and in need of treatment," the NDMA said.
The agency reported that the 23 arid and semi-arid regions are currently experiencing a "normal phase," as indicated by the range of environmental, production, access and utilization indicators monitored. This status signifies an absence of drought, attributed to the favorable performance of the 2023 short rain season.
Kenya is among the countries in the Horn of Africa that were affected by heavy El Nino rains in 2023, raising the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, some 58.1 million people are acutely food insecure across the Greater Horn of Africa region. Out of this number, 30.5 million are from Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. The other 27.6 million people are from Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.
