Africa-Press – Kenya. Nearly 16.4 million children in Kenya, equivalent to 67 per cent of the country’s child population, have been affected by poverty and the ravaging effects of climate change.
New research findings released by Save the Children indicate that the group is among 150 million children across East and Southern Africa gripped by both grinding poverty and climate disaster.
“Kenya ranks 10th highest in the globe and 3rd in East and Southern Africa in terms of the overall number of children facing this double threat,” the report said.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2021.
The report dubbed Generation Hope: 2.4 billion reasons to end the global climate and inequality crisis puts the exact number of children affected by the dual impacts at 16,308,563.
It says South Sudan tops the list of countries in the region most likely to face this “double threat”, with 87 per cent of children in the country affected followed by Mozambique (80 per cent and Madagascar (73 per cent).
The report said 774 million children are estimated to be affected by at least one extreme climate event a year, some of them being at higher risk because they are living in poverty with fewer resources to protect themselves and recover.
The study said 21,242,162 children in Kenya fall into this high-risk group.
Currently, drought has ravaged half the country with at least 23 counties facing acute drought where thousands of households are on the verge of starvation in the absence of food aid.
Save the Children warned that if the climate and inequality crisis is not addressed with urgency, the frequency and severity of humanitarian and cost of living crises are set to soar.
“Climate change has affected us so much. We are experiencing a prolonged drought and people are struggling to get maize because of high food prices,” Kassim, 14, from Garissa county said.
In a bid to save lives, the government has in recent days flagged off truckloads of relief food to the most affected regions by the ongoing drought.
The interventions came amid caution from Oxfam that one person is likely to die of hunger every 36 seconds between now and the end of the year due to the current drought situation in East Africa.
More than 30 per cent of Kenyans have limited access to food as a result of ever-rising food prices with the Northeastern part of Kenya being the worst hit.
Non-state actors such as Save the Children have complemented government efforts by providing relief food aid to the most vulnerable communities in the affected regions.
Support from Save the Children has been in the form of integrated health, nutrition, food security, child protection and education interventions.
So far, 111,623 children under five years and 51,052 pregnant and lactating women have benefited from nutrition interventions which include screening and treatment for malnutrition.
Some 63,311 people have also benefited from food security and livelihood interventions which include cash assistance, emergency livestock feeds, livestock disease surveillance, vaccination and crop production.
Another group of 215,235 people have benefited from water trucking, rehabilitation of water points and hygiene promotion.
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