AMREF’s Drought Response Team Continues Programming in Kenya
Canadians Support Families Affected by Horn of Africa Drought
Feb 13, 2012
Thanks to the generosity of Canadians, AMREF continues to support families in Kenya who have been affected by the drought. AMREF supporters in Canada have so far donated more than $35,000 for a nutritional supplementation program in Makueni. The program provides food to children under five, pregnant and nursing mothers and the elderly. To date, more than 21,000 kg of rice and 7,000 kg of beans have been distributed to 772 people, mainly children.
In addition to Canadians’ donations, AMREF supporters around the world have contributed more than US $5.7 million. With this funding, AMREF has helped more than 1.7 million people in nine regions. Working with the Kenyan government, United Nation agencies and other development groups, we have focused on supporting families by improving nutrition for mothers and children under 5, ensuring access to safe water, providing education on sanitation and hygiene, and providing health services.
Some parts of Kenya have seen a significant improvement. In Turkana, global acute malnutrition (used as a measure for the nutritional status of a particular population) has been reduced to 13.7 per cent from a high of 37.4 per cent. In the border region with Somalia, however, malnutrition remains high at more than 25 per cent.
With our focus on long-term solutions, AMREF’s support for families will continue to assist vulnerable groups to face these and other challenges. You can join us in supporting long-term solutions for African communities by making a donation today.
January 20, 2012
Although the headlines have all but disappeared and the global sense of urgency has faded, the effects of last year’s drought are still very much felt by many communities in the Horn of Africa. AMREF’s dedicated Drought Response Team is still hard at work responding to the ongoing challenges faced by displaced and disadvantaged families, helping them to rebuild their lives, their health and their resilience. Globally, the AMREF family has raised US$ 5.7 million for drought-affected communities in Kenya and Ethiopia. These generous contributions from our supporters around the world have helped fund life-saving initiatives including the distribution of over 90 metric tonnes of emergency food supplements, the building and rehabilitation of wells, rain-water catchment tanks and other water sources to serve over 70,000 people and their livestock, and hygiene education activities in communities and schools directly reaching over 6,000 people.
In addition, these donations h
ave purchased 15 motorcycles, 300 bicycles and 5 ambulances to help health workers see more patients every day. Your contributions have also funded medical outreach camps to diagnose and treat over 6,500 babies, children and their parents for malnutrition, malaria and other common illnesses, and distributed over 300,000 chlorine tablets to ensure safe drinking water for communities across Kenya.
Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, AMREF was able to ramp up their efforts in drought affected AMREF project sites in the Horn of Africa.
However, our mission is one of long-term sustainability, and to that end, our work is far from over. Please help AMREF create lasting change and bolster health services capacity within communities vulnerable to the threat of future crises. With your support we can provide a solid foundation for healthcare to ensure that communities are better equipped to manage these types of calamitous events. Please donate today.
Responding to the Horn of Africa Crisis
Dec 6, 2011
The rains have finally come.
The “short rains” have arrived, starting to relieve the severe water scarcity experienced in the past months by many communities in the drought-affected Horn of Africa. Unfortunately, the rain doesn’t immediately alleviate the effects of the drought or provide safe water to drink. The torrential downpours are too heavy -even for the parched land- to absorb leading to flash floods, washed out roads and the contamination of water sources. This leaves already stressed communities vulnerable to waterborne diseases such as acute diarrhoea, trachoma and malaria, and makes delivering food aid, bed nets and health care all the more difficult.
AMREF is well aware of the unique dangers that this situation presents and is taking measures to prevent a secondary emergency from arising. AMREF is providing people with mosquito nets to prevent malaria (a real danger due to accumulation of standing water) and distributing chlorine tablets to purify water. Teams are also on the ground responding to nutrition needs of mothers, pregnant and lactating women and children under five years by distributing nutrient-rich supplementary food. Additionally, AMREF is delivering much needed health care, building and rehabilitating wells, and educating communities about the importance of practicing safe hygiene and sanitation and about other ways to keep their families healthy.
The AMREF Drought Response Coordination Team continues to work on developing sustainable and lasting solutions to the challenges communities are facing, and making sure that help is reaching those who need it most. . In October alone, AMREF delivered medical supplies targeting over 7,286 people and acquired growth monitoring tools such as mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tapes and Salter scales to assess malnutrition in babies and children. Over 5000 kg of Unimix, a nutrient-rich food supplement, and 842 L of cooking oil have been distributed to Kenyan families as well as over 800m3 of safe water, benefiting several communities and schools. Another 45 metric tonnes of supplementary food is ready to be delivered.
AMREF remains committed to working with communities in Ethiopia and Kenya to respond to this crisis and to help families empower themselves with the knowledge and skills to meet any future emergencies. Indeed, field staff have reported that communities with whom AMREF had previously worked were faring better than communities s who had not benefitted from AMREF programs. To find out more about the drought in the Horn of Africa, and the associated food insecurity and humanitarian interventions, join us on December 7th for the AMREF Canada Coffeehouse Speaker Series hosted by Urbana Coffee.
October 13, 2011
AMREF Responds to the Drought - A Canadian's Story
Stephanie Irvine, one of AMREF Canada's former CIDA-funded interns working in Uganda, recently touched base with us to share her experiences working with the AMREF-Kenya Emergency Drought Response Team. Her story follows:
In the horn of Africa, climate change and failed rains have resulted in a famine of epic proportions. In August, 12 million people were reported to be measurably affected by the drought, of which 3.7 million people were deemed extremely food insecure and in need of urgent, lifesaving aid. Attention has centered on those who have been displaced from war- torn Somalia however, Somali refugees comprise only one-third of those suffering.
In the dry, arid landscape of Northwestern Kenya, the pastoralists of the Turkana tribe are especially hard hit. The region is isolated, historically neglected and characterized by poor road access and limited infrastructure each negatively affecting livelihoods and health status. As a culture that thrives on a diet of milk, meat and animal blood, the Turkana are greatly challenged, having to walk long distances in hopes of discovering water and grazing grounds for their livestock. Milk production has decreased and thousands of animals have succumbed, leaving behind a thick trail of malnutrition among the Turkana people.
Children under 5, pregnant women and the elderly are at the highest risk. Among children under 5, rates of malnutrition have reached 37% (The Lancet) in the region. Productivity and economic development of future generations will be undermined due to the marked, long-term consequences of malnutrition. Children who survive will experience delayed achievement of milestones and will be deprived of reaching their intellectual potential. Pregnant women are at an increased risk of having a low-birth weight infant and experiencing an obstetric emergency, and the elderly are suffering weakened immunity.
AMREF has been present in the Turkana district for over 50 years and continues to serve and support the community throughout the crisis. I joined the AMREF-Kenya Emergency Drought Response Team in August. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, AMREF has expanded programming throughout the region, playing a key role on the frontlines delivering food aid, essential medicines and constructing and rejuvenating boreholes.
During a blanket-supplementary feeding initiative and medical outreach on the outskirts of Lokichoggio, Turkana, I had the opportunity to speak with a beneficiary named Maratanu, a 26-year-old mother of three children under 5 years. During our conversation, she expressed gratitude for the support from AMREF: “We depleted all our resources since the rains and are forced to walk all day in search of water. We have lost many of our cattle and camels. I feel weak and can no longer make enough milk for my baby. My children are too tired because of hunger. I worry for the health of my family. I am so thankful to receive food, water purifiers and medicine. We will become strong once again. We are very thankful.”
This particular initiative involved the delivery of a micronutrient enriched corn-soya product mixed with oil to provide enough energy and nutrients to nourish each child under 5 for 16 days of the month. High-energy, ready to drink nutritional beverages were also delivered to pregnant women and the elderly. Our medical staff provided vitamin A supplementation and de-worming treatment for all children under-5 years; ante- and post- natal care for all mother; and distributed medical treatments for other common ailments such as eye infections, respiratory infection and weeping skin lesions.
The impact of the 2011 drought and famine in the horn of Africa will resonate long after the rains fall and AMREF will continue to continue to commit to and support the community to ensure better health for Africa.
September 6, 2011
Helping Forgotten Communities Impacted by Drought
Lamu, a coastal district of eastern Kenya, is now witnessing the dire effects of the drought, which is spreading across the Horn of Africa.
Women and children are most vulnerable and have become weak and prone to fatal 
waterborne diseases. Young men, desperate to find water and pasture for their livestock have had no choice but to search further and further away. Women, children and the elderly have been left behind, with hardly anything to eat.
Apart from the government, AMREF is the only organisation providing support to communities in the area. Lamu is one of Kenya’s poorest regions, with 60% of the population living in poverty.
The lack of clean water, coupled with increasing malnutrition has increased the rates of diseases such as diarrhea particularly among women and children.
AMREF has been working in Lamu to improve maternal, new born and child health.
Bernard Kimani, AMREF’s Project Assistant in Lamu says there is an urgent need for increased health care services and food relief distribution to prevent increased hunger and disease.
Under AMREF’S drought response initiative, approximately 18,000 children and 25,000 women will have increased access to clean water, sanitation facilities, and food relief.
Please support AMREF’s work today.
August 12, 2011
Emergency Medical Outreach in Turkana
AMREF has officially launched its drought response in Kenya with a medical camp in Turkana District, one of the regions worst affected by the drought. 
Hundreds of people, men and women, young and old, their faces and bodies telling the story of hardship and hunger, turned up at the Loitanik Primary School in Kaikor division, eager for medical attention – and food.
“AMREF has been working with the Turkana community for the last 50 years,” said AMREF Director General Dr Teguest Guerma who was at the medical camp. “I am deeply saddened by the suffering of the people of Turkana as a result of drought and hunger. By launching our official activities here, we are showing our solidarity and concern for them.”
Dr Guerma led AMREF staff, volunteers and government health workers in giving out therapeutic food to children, pregnant and lactating mothers and the elderly. The food contains crucial micronutrients and does not need cooking. Two hundred bags of maize and beans from the district store were also given out.
Men, women and children were screened and treated for disease and nutrition-related illnesses. They also received water treatment tablets and were shown how to use minimal amounts of water to ensure basic hygiene, and thus prevent water-related diseases.
“It is important to ensure hygiene because eye infections and diarrheal diseases like cholera can easily break out when there is a shortage of water. Disease will only weaken the people more and we must prevent that,” said Dr Guerma.
Dr. Guerma emphasized AMREF is doing all it can to stop the suffering of people living in areas where AMREF already works.
“AMREF is a health development organisation that seeks long-term solutions to health challenges, but development work cannot progress when people are hungry,” she says. “I promise that AMREF is doing our very best to find long-term solutions in Turkana so people do not find themselves in such a bad situation again.”
AMREF will continue running the medical camp to reach as many people as possible.
While the official launch of the camp was yesterday, AMREF’s activities to mitigate the immediate and medium-term effects of the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa have already begun in affected parts of the country, including Makueni, Kitui, Kajiado, Loitokitok, Samburu, West Pokot, Baringo, Laikipia, Matinyani, Mutitu, Magadi, Malindi, Kilifi, Lamu, Wajir, and in the informal urban settlements of Kibera and Dagoretti in Nairobi.
“Our focus is to save lives. We are grateful to all the donors who have given us money to do this work. We will use the money coming in for drought-related activities in the most effective way possible to benefit the communities, and we will account for every dollar and shilling,” says AMREF’s Kenya Country Director Dr. Lennie Kyomuhangi.
A special thank you to partner organization Humedica and the generous funds raised through German organization Sternstunden.
Please make a DONATION and help communities impacted by the drought in Kenya.
August 2, 2011
Wajir County in northern Kenya is one of the regions hit hardest by the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa, with a total of 205,265 people in dire need of food.
Recently AMREF in Kenya’s Country Director Dr. Lennie Bazira travelled to Wajir to assess the situation and determine how AMREF can best help. Watch an interview with Dr. Bazira below and please make a DONATION to help these communities.
July 23, 2011
AMREF is mobilizing efforts to tackle the wide-spread famine the Horn of Africa is currently facing. The UN estimates 10 million people are being affected by the crisis – one of the largest humanitarian crises in the last 60 years.
Kenya
The situation in the arid north and eastern regions of Kenya have reached emergency crisis level, while marginal parts of the south-eastern and coastal regions are faced with severe food shortages which are affecting close to 3.5 million people.
Soaring inflation has also left large numbers of people in Kenya’s informal urban settlements unable to buy food.
Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in northern Kenya are housing close to 500,000 Somalis, and the numbers keep swelling as 1,500 refugees (according to Government estimates) cross the border daily to escape the famine and insecurity in their country.
Ethiopia
So far, 4 million people in Ethiopia are in need of food relief, mostly in the Somali, Tigray, Oromia and Amhara regions.
Women and Children Most Vulnerable
The famine is leading to malnutrition, impoverishment and loss of life. AMREF is also concerned about the effects of the famine on already vulnerable populations. Children and pregnant women are highly susceptible to malnutrition and diarrhoea, for which medical care is critical. People living with HIV and TB need nutritional support if their treatment is to be effective. As people migrate to escape the famine and move away from their regular health facilities, they are likely to default on treatment for HIV and TB and increased crowding in refugee camps increases the risk of spread of TB and other infectious diseases.
Children are dropping out of school to join their parents in the search for food; girls are often the first to leave the classroom and easily enter into sexual liaisons or early marriages for survival, reversing gains made in reproductive health education.
We have already stepped up activities to increase access to clean water and sanitation facilities for communities affected by the famine in order to prevent outbreak of diseases like cholera and diarrhoea, which would only add to the suffering. AMREF medical outreach teams are also focusing on treatment of malnutrition and diarrhoea in refugee camps in northern Kenya.
AMREF cannot do this alone.
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