Kenya: Mothers and newborns at risk of death

The birth rate of children attended by skilled birth attendants has remained low in Kenya, a country with a high maternal mortality rate of 342 per 100,000 live births, but the situation worsens for those affected by the drought.

The drought crisis not only affects women's access to essential maternal health care, but also causes serious malnutrition among pregnant women and exposes them to serious risks.

The exceptional severity and duration of the drought has worsened the dire situation in Turkana County, which was already plagued by locust infestations and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Forecasts call for a sixth consecutive weak rainy season from March to May, putting more mothers and babies at risk.

50 million people from eight African countries are facing food insecurity and 20 million people need urgent food aid worth at least four billion dollars. 79% of the population of Africa, who are facing a dire food situation, live in the countries of Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya.

6 million children are facing malnutrition in the Horn of Africa. Two million of them are severely malnourished.

According to the United Nations, timely action is very vital to prevent humanitarian disasters, and in this situation, the ability of institutions to react in a timely manner is limited due to lack of financial resources. For example, timely humanitarian action in the terrible drought that occurred in East Africa in 2017 saved Somalia from famine. 6 years ago, a similar event caused 260,000 people, half of whom were children under the age of 6, to die due to famine.

_{Source: UN, UN news}