A shortfall of rain in Kenya this year has lead to crop shortages that the World Food Program says has caused a food emergency there. From the UN News Center:
Acute malnutrition rates among children under the age of five are over 20 per cent in some areas, well above the 15 per cent emergency threshold.
“Life has never been easy for the poor in Kenya, but right now conditions are more desperate than they have been for a decade,” Mr. Oberle said. “WFP is aiming to help almost 1 in every 10 Kenyans to cope wit this serious crisis but we can’t do it without money.”
The agency also hopes the influx of funds will allow it to expand its school feeding programme by 100,000 to reach almost 1.2 million children. The Kenyan Government provides schools meals to some 500,000 more young people through its own scheme.
Across the Horn of Africa, WFP is facing funding shortfalls, including over $160 million for Somalia and nearly $100 million for Ethiopia.
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