DROUGHT CRISIS

For the last four rainy seasons the annual rains have failed across Kenya and has forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes in search of food and water elsewhere. In Lodwar, pastoralists dig ever-deeper pils in an anxious search for water, as the region suffersits worst drought in 40 years, whichhas wipedout livestock and crops, deepening a hunger crisis. The impact of hunger is etched on the faces of children filling the "stabilization room" for serious  health problems of  the Lodwar  County and Referral Hospital in northwest Kenya. The hunger problem is compounded by the war in Ukraine and the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed up the price of cooking oil, bread and wheat flour to record highs at local market. Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA) say that the drought has been caused by climate change and the La Nina weather patern in the Pacific Ocean.

Aid groups and authorities predict the next rains in the Horn of Africa  are likely to fail too, hurting communities whom a UNICEF official in Kenya said are some of the least responsible for global carbon emmissions. It's  not the countries ironically that are contrubuting more to that global emission that are paying the heaviest price. With each pasing season , the inhabitants of Turkana County, mostly nomadic herders famous for their colourful beadwork and cloth, have fewer resourceto fall back on pushing them closer to the brink. Ealier this month Kenya's president declared the crisis a national disaster. Almost two million children in the Horn of Africa require urgent treament for life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF estimates.

Currently around 4.1 million people in Kenya are food-insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance. This is a 17 per cent rise since May of this year. Child malnutrition has also risen around 50 per cent in the last three months to 942,000. There are grave concerns the country will slso experience a fifth consecutive season of major rainfall deficits, which will only worsen the food crisis in the country. Droughts and other severe climate conditions have greatly affected Kenyan farmers, many of whom have suffered the loss of their livestock and markets due to disease and malnutrition . Households are also facing rising food prices, limiting their access and consumption of food staples such as milk, maize and beans. In addition, the country's recent general elections have disrupted the operations of county governments, leaing several vulnerable communities in drought - affected areas without adequate financial or political suport.