Marsabit County nutrition coordinator David Buke identified Laisamis and North Horr sub-counties as malnutrition hotspots, closely followed by Moyale sub-county (Golbo, Uran, and Obu wards) and Saku sub-county (Karare and Sagante wards) as malnutrition hotspots that require immediate intervention.
"Inadequate intake of food due to the drought is the major accelerator of malnutrition in Marsabit. Pastoralists make up 80 per cent of the population and rely on livestock for a living.
"They, on the other hand, have lost all of their livestock as a result of the drought and are no longer able to put food on the table," said Buke.
He expressed regret that 11 severely malnourished people from Ileret village had died between February and December, with children under the age of five, pregnant and lactating women, the elderly, and people with HIV/Aids being the most vulnerable groups.
Buke said the situation was so bad that milk had to be bought in Central Kenya. The county's biggest challenge is maintaining the feeding programmes, which require a lot of resources to run.
"To treat one malnourished child, you'll need one box of ready-to-use therapeutic feeds, which costs more than Sh10,000, so we can't do it alone," Buke said.
Access to the communities to administer treatment can also be difficult at times due to their movement from one zone to another in search of pasture and water. Then there's the growing risk of mental illness among former livestock owners who have lost their means of subsistence due to the drought.
There is also the age-long challenge of marginalisation.
"If the government could have implemented development infrastructure such as dams and irrigation schemes over the years, communities in Marsabit and other ASAL counties would be able to mitigate the effects of drought and reduce malnutrition cases," said Buke.
The county has formed alliances with organisations such as Unicef, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Kenya Red Cross, which are supplementing the government's efforts to acquire necessary commodities.