Aid Group Raises Alarm Over Rising Malnutrition in Refugee Camps in Northern Kenya

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

11:28 AM EDT, June 29, 2023

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A humanitarian group has raised alarm over rising malnutrition in refugee camps in northern Kenya.

The International Rescue Committee said Thursday that children have been particularly affected as food rations fall due to decreased funding.

The group said the number of patients admitted to camp hospitals for malnutrition rose by almost 95% in May from the previous month at the Hagadera camp inside the Dadaab complex, which mostly hosts people.

Other refugees from neighboring South Sudan, Uganda and Burundi living at the Kakuma camp are also severely affected.

Kenya hosts more than 600,000 refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps, and within urban centers.

The East African region is experiencing its worst drought in decades following six consecutive failed rainy seasons, with millions of people affected.

IRC Kenya country director Mohammed el Montassir urged governments, donors and the international community to work together to combat malnutrition and provide treatment.

“Our team on the ground has witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of malnutrition on children in the Kakuma and Hagadera camps — the situation demands urgent attention,” he said in a statement.

In one of the camps, malnutrition cases without complications rose from 64 to 109 while those with complications increased from 37 to 72 in May, IRC said.

An IRC health manager, Dr. Sila Monthe, said the number of admitted patients in Kakuma is twice the bed capacity.

The team has opened extra wards, increased staffing and extended working hours but is still not at the recommended healthcare worker-to-patient ratio, Monthe told The Associated Press.

“I feel frustrated and like nothing I can do matters. For my team, I’ve seen their morale has gone down and there’s a lot of burnout,” she said.

Malnourished children are prone to infections and the camps have already seen an outbreak of malaria, Monthe said.