Kenya is home to some quarter of a million refugees, mainly from Sudan and Somalia. Increased political tension in Somalia is leading to renewed refugee migration. UNHCR have registered over 24,000 Somali refugees in Daadab camp in Kenya since January 2006. Refugee influx occurs in predominantly pastoralist areas of north-eastern Kenya, severely stressed by three seasons of poor rain State of food security in 26 drought affected districts in pastoralist areas remains precarious, despite above normal rains. In the coastal and highland areas, food security has improved Worsening trends in regards to violent livestock raids are observed in northern Kenya. In Samburu West alone, 70 cattle raids have occurred in the last three months leading to the loss of 10,000 cattle

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CERF funds life-saving air lifts and control of Rift Valley Fever

15 January 2007: CERF allocates US$ 2.5 million to WFP/UNHAS in Kenya to continue and expand the air logistics operation to cover the needs of isolated, flood-affected communities in the Tana River Basin as well as US$ 1.9 million to control the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in North Eastern Kenya.

The CERF grants will enable the World Food Programme's UN Humanitarian Air Service (WFP/UNHAS) to deliver life-saving supplies to 500,000 flood-affected Kenyans and 160,000 Somali refugees in Dadaab refugee camp by air, an operation that the CERF already supported with an initial grant of US$ 3.2 million in early December 2006.

Heavy rains continue to fall in the Northeastern provinces of Kenya; and with the main supply routes still largely cut off, relief items are in critically short supply. The situation in the Tana River Basin is deteriorating on a daily basis as the lowlands of that district are flooded and up to 16 villages in Garsen division have been completely flooded. The UN estimates that 700,000 people have been affected by the floods. Over 100 people have died in the previous 6-8 weeks.

A C-130 plane drops food at Hagadera refugee camp in Garissa, northern Kenya. In addition, WFP helicopters operate out of the town of Garissa, providing a lifeline for people cut off from roads by the floods. [Photo: IRIN]

The main road to Dadaab refugee camps remains impassable; severe constraints on road access necessitated an expansion of the air logistics capacity to urgently assist isolated communities. Vulnerable communities are cut off in Tana River, Ijara, Wajir and at the coast. 160,000 refugees at the Dadaab refugee camps need food aid and humanitarian supplies, and air drops are the only method of supplying the three camps. Ifo camp at Dadaab has been virtually destroyed affecting over 60,000 Somali refugees.

WFP/UNHAS will supply food aid, chlorine, water purification tablets, mosquito nets and medicines need to be supplied to these areas by air for several weeks, until roads dry out and can be repaired. With so much contaminated water and with virtually all the water systems destroyed along the Tana River, the delivery of water treatment supplies is essential. There are already cholera cases at the coast and there is an imminent threat of widespread diarrhoeal disease.

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) affects livestock and humans alike: as the disease continues to spread during and immediately after the rainy season in the Horn of Africa, it has caused both human deaths as well as substantial livestock losses.

So far, 151 people are confirmed dead of a total of 628 suspected cases that have been reported. The disease was mainly focused in northeastern Kenya although most of the new cases are being reported more towards the west with Baringo District reporting most of the new cases. These are areas which have been heavily impacted by recent flooding which has worsened access to the affected areas.

The Kenyan Ministry of Health formally declared an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever on 21 December 2006. Veterinary teams have started the vaccination of livestock in a 20 km wide belt surrounding the contaminated areas in Kenya to contain the disease. Two million livestock are to be vaccinated and the Kenyan Government has imposed a ban on slaughter and movement of animals in the affected areas.

The RVF outbreak has exacerbated an already existing emergency situation in areas suffering from drought, floods, epidemic diseases, influx of Somali refugees and internally displaced pastoralist communities. In addition, there is poor access to health care, sanitation and other basic social services. The pastoral communities that inhabit these areas depend mainly on livestock for their livelihoods and productive assets.

With the CERF grant of US$ 1.9 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Kenya will assist the government to control the outbreak and reduce avoidable mortality and morbidity amongst the refugee and host populations in the affected areas. The UN agencies, in collaboration with livestock NGOs (Terra Nuova, Vetaid and VSF Suisse), will assist the national and local authorities to conduct rapid health and risk assessments in the affected districts, identify gaps in the emergency/outbreak health care delivery and response system and offer prompt interventions to fill critical gaps.

The CERF approved US$ 14.3 million in December to jump-start the response to the floods in Kenya as part of a package totaling US$ 27 million to the Horn of Africa for this crisis.

[Last update: 26 February 2007]

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CERF allocates $3 million to underfunded humanitarian activities in Kenya as part of the second underfunded allocation in 2007

1 October 2007: CERF allocates US$3 million to Kenya as part of the second underfunded allocation in 2007. Since their establishment in 1991, the Kakuma and 3 Dadaab camps hosting over 235,000 refugees (including 43,000 recent refuges from Somalia) have relied almost entirely on assistance from UN agencies and NGOs.

Angry residents of Mathare slum demonstrate in Nairobi, July 2007, after authorities disconnected water in the area [Photo: IRIN]

The harsh semi-arid environments in which the Kakuma camp and Dadaab camps are located and which are often affected by droughts and floods do not provide any opportunities for the refugees to develop self-reliance As a result, the existing population is nearly entirely dependent on assistance from UN agencies and NGOs. A UNHCR project will ensure that over 235,000 refugees (including new arrivals from Somalia) will be able to fully utilise the food rations and complementary food made available to them through the provision of essential domestic non-food items including firewood, energy saving stoves, soap, cooking sets/utensils and jerry cans to refugee households, contributing to decreasing the level of malnutrition in camps. Without these inputs, malnutrition, morbidity and mortality rates are likely to increase.

The majority of the refugees depend on WFP’s general food ration as their only source of food. The nutrition situation in Dadaab has recently been described as precarious and has not statistically improved in recent years with global acute malnutrition rates consistently above 15%. This WFP project will support improve the dietary intake of 240,000 Somali and Sudanese refugees in Kenya (including new arrivals from Somalia), and improving their nutritional status through the local procurement and distribution of 619 MT of protein-rich food. These will complement the WFP food basket which is covered under the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation.

CERF funds will contribute to the UNICEF project on improvements to water & sanitation infrastructure, and hygiene promotion in Dadaab Refugee Camps. It will contribute to supporting 174,000 refugees in Dadaab camp targeting the management of waterborne diseases (diarrhoea & worms) which compromise the nutritional status of vulnerable populations, especially young children, and pregnant and lactating women. The project will cover the provision of 2 new bore holes and water supply infrastructure, the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, training in construction of household latrines and the provision of hygiene and sanitation education.

The other CERF funded UNICEF project will support to emergency nutrition among Somali Refugees in Dadaab camps. Overall, the proposed support is to promote access to essential and quality nutritional services to the Somali refugees in Dadaab camps through strengthening management of malnutrition at facility level and the promotion of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, community awareness on adequate health and nutrition practices.

The Safe Motherhood and Gender Based Violence (GBV) FAO project will contribute to the provision of reproductive health information and services to 175,000 refugees in Dadaab camp on family planning and Sexual and Gender Based Violence, including training of midwives/health workers and community sensitization on antenatal care, safe deliveries, and family planning and sexual and gender based violence.

WHO will utilize a CERF for an emergency health response for refugees in Kenya. The WHO project aims at reducing mortality and morbidity among the refugees and immediate host populations in the affected districts. Live-saving activities include the procurement of standardized emergency drugs, lab reagents for confirmation of outbreaks, strengthening capacity for health partners in refugee camps personal protection equipment, disinfectants, setting up of isolation units, and the social mobilization of refugee communities on health issues.

[Last update: 25 October 2007]

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CERF in Kenya 2008

CERF in Kenya 2006