More than 600,000 people at the Coast face starvation due to the drought being experienced in most parts of the country.
Nationally there are more than 4.35 million Kenyans who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance following the crisis.
The Kenya Redcross Deputy Secretary General, Annette Msabeni said there is urgent humanitarian assistance needed to help the victims through water, food, and health interventions.
“Here in Coast we have 678,000 people who have been affected by the drought and the numbers are increasing, cases of malnourished children as well as pregnant women and lactating mothers have also been reported,” she said.
Msabeni said they have so far received relief food worth Ksh 58 million from well-wishers which will be distributed to 12,000 households (72,000 people) in four Counties highly affected by the drought in the Coast region.
“This is food that has been donated by well-wishers such as the Tawfiq family, and several other well-wishers,” she said.
The Deputy SG said their focus was on saving lives and long-term mitigation measures to ensure families do not get back into those difficult situations.
The Kenya Redcross has carried out various interventions including rehabilitation water facilities, distributing food, and health outreaches targeting children under five who are malnourished.
“We have also done livestock offtake together with the government as part of protecting the family assets,” she said.
Ruwa Kalama a resident in Kaloleni sub-County, Kilifi County school drop out cases among children due to lack of food and outbreak of diseases as the locals have no access to clean water.
“We have so many challenges yet some of the people are saying there is no problem this is wrong, ”he said
Residents are forced to walk for long distances in search for water a situation that has exacerbated the drought crisis.
“We spent the whole of last night at the well and we will have to wait for a whole week to go back and get more water, we are appealing for help we are really suffering, ” said Harriet Jefwa a resident of Nyalleni village in Kilifi
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