Rift Valley Fever and flooding compound pastoral food
insecurity
Source: FEWS NET
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FEWS NET Emergency Alert for Kenya, published Jan 19 2007
Rift Valley Fever and flooding compound pastoral food insecurityFlooding and an outbreak of Rift
Valley Fever (RVF), an acute, fever-causing viral disease that affects domestic animals and humans, have exacerbated already extreme levels of food insecurity in pastoral areas where child
malnutrition remains unacceptably high. Infrastructure damage from floods and disease control measures mean that access to livestock products and markets is severely constrained. Thus,
despite good water and pasture availability in Kenya?s eastern pastoral districts, food security crisis will persist in early 2007. The Ministry of Health and the World Health
Organization (WHO) confirmed an outbreak of RVF after samples taken from Garissa District tested positive for the disease in late December. Garissa District is the epicenter of the outbreak, but
the disease has spread to adjacent pastoral districts including Wajir, Ijara, Mandera, Tana River, and Isiolo (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Areas affected by floods and
Rift Valley Fever
Source: ALRMP/Response Team; Graphics: FEWS NET KenyaA multi-agency surveillance and response team including the Ministry of Health, the Veterinary Department, the Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALMRP), the National Operations Center, WHO, UNICEF, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) established that 68 people have died from the disease, including 48 people in Garissa and 13 in Ijara. The multi-agency team concluded that about 3,000 households in the five districts are situated in the high risk area. The outbreak is causing considerable pressure on medical facilities already grappling with an upsurge in malaria, diarrhea and typhoid caused by recent flooding. The RVF outbreak has compounded food insecurity among pastoralists already suffering from severe drought over the last three years and the impacts of severe floods between October and December 2006. Households have been displaced, livestock lost and access to markets and basic services have been severely impeded. Livestock movements have been further constrained by restrictions put in place to control the RVF outbreak and a ban on slaughtering livestock has been imposed. As a result, pastoral households face a substantial reduction in income and food access. At the same time, pastoral households face high food prices in local markets where floods have disrupted the supply of food commodities. The ban on livestock movement has disrupted cross-border trade, distorting prices in both Somalia and Kenya. However, current political tensions in neighboring Somalia could result in movement of pastoralists and livestock in and out of the country in spite of the ban, encouraging the spread of RVF and other diseases beyond Kenya. While the response to the situation has been hampered by the poor road access, especially in Ijara District, the multi-agency response team has started a range of interventions in all affected districts in the sectors of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, livestock health, food and infrastructure. Interventions include an awareness creation campaign and the provision of food, mosquito nets, drugs, medical kits and protective clothing. Initially, a total of 500,000 sheep and goats and 600,000 cattle are targeted for immediate vaccination in Garissa, Ijara, Wajir, Isiolo and Tana River districts. The vaccination campaign will be widened to several neighboring districts subject to the availability of vaccines and personnel. Only 420,000 doses are currently available, but an additional 400,000 doses have been ordered by the GoK, and the US Centers for Disease Control plan to donate a significant number of doses.While flooding has ended in most of the country, their impacts remain. Unverified estimates from various organizations suggest that about 500,000 persons in the pastoral, coastal and lake regions have been affected by floods in various ways, and interventions are ongoing. Most of the flood-affected population was already part of the ongoing drought emergency intervention. However, the most recent flooding in the lake region occurred in areas not covered by the emergency operation. In these areas an estimated 4,000 persons in Nyando, Migori, Rachuonyo, Kisumu, Busia and Siaya were affected. The floods have now subsided but infrastructural damage is extensive. The Office of the President has provided food to the affected population in the lake region, while infrastructural rehabilitation has started in some areas impacted by floods. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) issues periodic warnings when population groups are now, or about to become, highly food insecure, unable to meet their own food needs during the given consumption period and will be forced to reduce consumption, dispose of their productive assets and take increasingly irreversible actions that undermine their future food security.
| KENYA Food Security Emergency | January 19, 2007 |
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Source: ALRMP/Response Team; Graphics: FEWS NET KenyaA multi-agency surveillance and response team including the Ministry of Health, the Veterinary Department, the Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALMRP), the National Operations Center, WHO, UNICEF, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) established that 68 people have died from the disease, including 48 people in Garissa and 13 in Ijara. The multi-agency team concluded that about 3,000 households in the five districts are situated in the high risk area. The outbreak is causing considerable pressure on medical facilities already grappling with an upsurge in malaria, diarrhea and typhoid caused by recent flooding. The RVF outbreak has compounded food insecurity among pastoralists already suffering from severe drought over the last three years and the impacts of severe floods between October and December 2006. Households have been displaced, livestock lost and access to markets and basic services have been severely impeded. Livestock movements have been further constrained by restrictions put in place to control the RVF outbreak and a ban on slaughtering livestock has been imposed. As a result, pastoral households face a substantial reduction in income and food access. At the same time, pastoral households face high food prices in local markets where floods have disrupted the supply of food commodities. The ban on livestock movement has disrupted cross-border trade, distorting prices in both Somalia and Kenya. However, current political tensions in neighboring Somalia could result in movement of pastoralists and livestock in and out of the country in spite of the ban, encouraging the spread of RVF and other diseases beyond Kenya. While the response to the situation has been hampered by the poor road access, especially in Ijara District, the multi-agency response team has started a range of interventions in all affected districts in the sectors of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, livestock health, food and infrastructure. Interventions include an awareness creation campaign and the provision of food, mosquito nets, drugs, medical kits and protective clothing. Initially, a total of 500,000 sheep and goats and 600,000 cattle are targeted for immediate vaccination in Garissa, Ijara, Wajir, Isiolo and Tana River districts. The vaccination campaign will be widened to several neighboring districts subject to the availability of vaccines and personnel. Only 420,000 doses are currently available, but an additional 400,000 doses have been ordered by the GoK, and the US Centers for Disease Control plan to donate a significant number of doses.While flooding has ended in most of the country, their impacts remain. Unverified estimates from various organizations suggest that about 500,000 persons in the pastoral, coastal and lake regions have been affected by floods in various ways, and interventions are ongoing. Most of the flood-affected population was already part of the ongoing drought emergency intervention. However, the most recent flooding in the lake region occurred in areas not covered by the emergency operation. In these areas an estimated 4,000 persons in Nyando, Migori, Rachuonyo, Kisumu, Busia and Siaya were affected. The floods have now subsided but infrastructural damage is extensive. The Office of the President has provided food to the affected population in the lake region, while infrastructural rehabilitation has started in some areas impacted by floods. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) issues periodic warnings when population groups are now, or about to become, highly food insecure, unable to meet their own food needs during the given consumption period and will be forced to reduce consumption, dispose of their productive assets and take increasingly irreversible actions that undermine their future food security.
