Report raises alarm over dire hunger situation in Kenya

A young boy cooking in Chebanda village in Tiaty, Baringo County. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Kenya’s hunger situation is worrying, a new report shows.

The 2021 Global Hunger Index report released yesterday put the country in position 87 of the 116 countries.

The data was released by humanitarian organisations, Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

With a score of 23.0, the report says Kenya has a level of hunger that is considered serious.

“This means the fight against hunger is slowing or even stalling in Kenya,” said Welthungerhilfe Country Director, Kelvin Shingles.

Since the year 2000, Kenya’s GHI score has decreased by 13.7 points, which represents a percentage increase of 57.3 per cent.

According to the report, Somalia is on the extremely alarming rates of food insecurity at 50.8.

Severe cases

Other severe cases considered in the alarming rate are Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Central African Republic and Yemen.

Argentina is ranked best, tying with Costa Rica with a GHI of 5.3.

The GHI is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional and national levels.

GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators including undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality.

Based on this, GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale, where zero is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.

The report revealed that 24.8 per cent of the population in Kenya is undernourished.

In Kenya, Shingles said the pastoral and agricultural communities are experiencing greater frequencies of these conflicts and their coping mechanisms is constantly being depleted.