385,000 children malnourished
The United Nations has taken $13.8 million from its emergency fund to relieve millions of Kenyan people starving amid the region’s worst drought since the 1950s, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. On Tuesday the UN’s humanitarian coordinator told the press that “up to 3.5 million people will need food assistance in the coming months”. Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki officially declared the drought a national disaster, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says the country will need $1.6 billion of aid in the next six months. 385,000 children are currently malnourished, and 90,000 pregnant or lactating mothers are at risk of malnutrition. The Kenyan government and the UN World Food Programme are working together to establish a mobile health unit that will ensure health centres are adequately equipped with drugs and medical equipment.