Act now to save lives, counties told

By Michael Wesonga

The North Rift Red Cross Society regional office has advised Turkana, Baringo and West Pokot counties to take urgent measures to save about 146,000 residents from famine.

The organisation’s regional manager Kennedy Mulama said the three counties were among those that should be  close monitored due to worsening drought situation to avoid an emergency situation as was the case in 2011 when many lives were lost.

The manager observed that Turkana County was already at the late alert stage similar to Baringo County, given the considerably much lower rainfall experienced in the region in December.

“Everyone must come onboard to address the impending drought because the regions received little lower rainfall that we hoped would have helped them cope until the short rain season,” he said.

According to Mr Mulama, a drought situation develops from “normal stage” to “alert” progressively to “alarm” before it becomes an emergency.

“We do not envisage a repeat of what happened in 2011 if immediate prerequisite actions are taken in good time by the society, other stakeholders and the government in good time by implementing the recommendations of an assessment whose report will be out by the end of the week,” he advised.

He said the actions will avoid loss of lives, livestock and destruction of property if the late alert stage culminates into the next phase of alarm.

Mulama said they have  been engaging in various capacity building initiatives including training community health workers and volunteers on early warning and early action interventions in Loima and Turkana Central sub-counties.

 “This is aimed at improving capacity to effectively identify drought indicators to enable them seek support and intervention to cap the situation,” he explained. In terms of nutrition, the society is screening children to identify cases of malnutrition,  which is one of the indicators of drought.

“We are offering a supplementary feeding programme in Turkana, Baringo and Narok to avoid cases of severe malnutrition for under-five’s,” Mulama informed said.

He said there were no confirmed reports of people eating dogs as was reported in the media last week.