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| WFP seeks $230 mn in emergency aid for Kenya |
| Press Trust of India / United Nations Aug 26, 2009, 10:01 IST |
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The World Food Program (WFP) has sought an aid of $230 million from the international community to provide emergency food assistance to 3.8 million people in Kenya, which has been badly hit by deepening drought and continued high food prices.
"People are already going hungry, malnutrition is preying on more and more young children, cattle are dying – we face a huge challenge and are urging the international community to provide us with the resources we need to get the job done," observes Burkard Oberle of the WFP's Country Director for Kenya said in an appeal issued yesterday.
The $230 million aid was required to feed 3.8 million people for six months. Due to the near total failure of the annual rains, WFP and the Kenyan government will require strong support from donors to provide food to affected communities, the UN said.
Acute malnutrition rates among children under the age of five are well above the emergency threshold of 15 per cent and pastoralist communities have been particularly affected, it said.
"Red lights are flashing around the country," Oberle said, adding that WFP was currently distributing 2.6 million drought-affected Kenyans with food aid and hopes to increase that number by 1.2 million.
Many parts of Kenya had experienced three or even four consecutive seasons of failed rains, and conditions were expected to deteriorate, with government projecting the main maize harvest to fall nearly one-third below the five-year average. In addition, pasture and water for livestock was quickly dwindling.
The hardest-hit Kenyans had taken drastic measures, such as reducing the number of meals each day, eating cheaper and less nutritious food, migrating to urban centres and taking on massive debt.
"Life has never been easy for the poor in Kenya, but right now conditions are more desperate than they have been for a decade," Oberle said, adding WFP was aiming to help almost one in every 10 Kenyans to cope with the serious crisis "but we can’t do it without money."
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