Kenya Red Cross welcomes President’s declaration of drought as a national disaster

The Kenya Red Cross Society Welcomes H. E. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration of the ongoing drought affecting 12 counties as a national disaster and commends him for the move. Our support for this declaration is based on our own assessment which indicates that unless urgent multi-sectoral interventions are implemented millions of Kenyans are at risk of starvation. This is a call for partners and individuals to come forward and support the response. 

The Kenya Red Cross Society launched its drought anticipatory and response actions in April and over the last five months, the situation has continued to worsen. Critical to note that since our first response in April 2021: –   

1. The number of people affected has risen from 1.4 million in March to over 2.1 million currently and it is projected to rise to 3 million by December.  
2. The number of counties affected has increased from 9 to 12 and could rise to 23 by early 2022. 
3. In its latest weather forecast Kenya Meteorological Department indicates that the October-November -December rains will be inadequate.   
4. The food security situation continues to be at a worsening trend in the Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) counties attributed mainly to the poor performance of the October-November-December 2020 short rains and the March-April-May 2021 long rains.  
5. Still in the ASAL areas, the worsening drought conditions has led to poor vegetation condition, increased distances to water sites in 78% of ASAL counties, worsening livestock body conditions and reduced milk production in 9% and 61% ASAL counties. 

With these factors in mind, it is imperative that greater resources are mobilized and directed towards supporting the communities affected by the drought. As a humanitarian organization, we will continue to put our communities first and even as more resources come in from our partners we intend to go above and beyond the food distribution, working with families in affected Counties to understand the most vital sustainable measures to curb their suffering.  

Consequently, the Kenya Red Cross Society reaffirms its commitment to support efforts by both the National and County governments to mitigate this disaster.  Since launching our interventions with our various partners we have reached 95,664 people with both food distribution and direct cash transfers. 

Kenya Red Cross plans to support the most affected 500,000 people (100,000 households) with various interventions including food distribution, cash transfers, health, water and sanitation services.