Food crisis takes toll on children

More children in the country are suffering from acute malnutrition and diseases complicated by hunger than ever before, a new government report shows.

The National Council for Children’s Services (NCCS) report identifies the illnesses as diarrhoea, anaemia and skin and respiratory complications.

The NCCS carried out a rapid assessment in different parts of the country last month.

Turkana, with a malnutrition rate of between 85 and 93 per cent, is the worst affected district.

The report, which was released on Thursday, says district nutrition officers told the team that conducted the survey that the malnutrition rate varied between 18 per cent and 35 per cent for children under five years.

“This rate is actually alarming as the anticipated child deaths were also very high,” says the report.

It was released after the Gender, Children and Social Development permanent secretary, Dr James Nyikal, launched the NCCS service charter and strategic plan in Nairobi.

The NCCS team also established that school enrolment in most districts had drastically dropped due to famine. Early childhood centres and primary schools recorded the highest dropout rates.

Sought jobs

Several children are said to have abandoned their homes and sought jobs so that they can feed themselves. Some have been forced to engage in crime to earn a living, the report says, adding that some girls dropped out of school to get married or to engage in prostitution.

The assessment was done in selected districts which have been hit hard by hunger. They include Laikipia North, Baringo, Murang’a North, Nyandarua North, Kibera and Embakasi.