150,000 people in need of food in Wajir
Wajir County residents converge at Qorahey Grounds to pray for rains on September 24, 2017. The long dry spell in the county has left over 100,000 residents in need of food and water. PHOTO | BRUHAN MAKONG | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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In an interview with Nation, Mr Farah said they were currently supplying water to 147 centres in the county after the shallow wells, mega pans and boreholes dried up.
Cases of malnutrition have also gone with a recent survey putting the malnutrition rate at 16 per cent.
150,000 people in Wajir County are in need of food aid, a recent report by the National Drought Management Authority says.
Ahmed Farah, the county drought coordinator for Wajir said the drought had left many families in urgent need of food and water.
In an interview with Nation, Mr Farah said they were currently supplying water to 147 centres in the county after the shallow wells, mega pans and boreholes dried up.
The coordinator also noted that they had received 20,000 bags of rice from the national government and four water bowsers from the Kenya Defence Forces.
MALNUTRITION
But even with those efforts, Mr Farah said more intervention was still needed especially in Wajir South and Wajir North where he said the situation had reached a "critical level."
Cases of malnutrition have also gone with a recent survey putting the malnutrition rate at 16 per cent.
Noor Sheikh Mohamed, the Chief Health Officer in Wajir County said health centres were recording a high number of malnutrition incidences over the past three months.
The county education department has also expressed fears that national exams might be affected since some families have migrated with their children to far flung areas in search of water and pasture.
