Kenya: One-third of children found to be malnourished in Turkana as aid cuts, crocodile attacks compound hunger crisis

NAIROBI, 18 September 2025 – Mothers in northern Kenya are struggling to feed their children due to drought, crocodile attacks curtailing fishing, locusts decimating crops, and aid cuts reducing nutrition services, Save the Children said.

For the past two months, Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit (EHU), a team of specialised medical practitioners who work closely with local teams and Kenya’s Ministry of Health, has been in Turkana County screening and treating children for malnutrition as well as providing other medical services.

Of the 2,780 children screened by Save the Children from July-August, 990 children – or one in three - were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition.

Mothers told Save the Children said they are struggling to feed their children one meal a day due to drought, reduced fishing due to crocodile attacks, and less humanitarian support due to aid cuts - and they fear the crisis is set to worsen in coming months.

Across Kenya, new analysis by Save the Children of Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) data shows the number of people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity by January 2026 is projected to increase by 16%, from the current 1.8 million people already facing severe food insecurity [1].

Of these people, over 179,000 are likely to experience emergency levels of hunger and very high levels of acute malnutrition, with most of them concentrated in four northern arid counties of Baringo, Mandera, Marsabit, and Turkana [2].

In Turkana County, 70% of the population is not getting enough food, leading to alarming levels of malnutrition, with an estimated 87,000 children under five and 36,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women requiring treatment for acute malnutrition [3].

Dinah, 27, lives with her brother and five children – including seven-month-old twins Meldah and Ekuom – in Turkana. Rising water levels and flooding in the lake, along with crocodile attacks, have impacted fishing, and her brother often comes home empty-handed, and some days she cannot feed her children.

Dinah told Save the Children: “When people go to fish by the lake, they stay there for a long time ... one-and-a-half or two weeks … while people are starving here… But when they come back, they come with empty hands and then we’re left wondering if we’ll survive.

“[Hunger] means my children’s bodies have not grown, they become weak and emaciated.  They have no fat…When I see that they’re hungry and sleeping, even the young ones are crying. My heart feels pain and I feel hurt.”

Josephine, 32, a mother of four from Turkana, is seven months pregnant and sells charcoal to earn money to buy food. Her husband is a fisherman in Lake Turkana, where fishing activities have reduced in recent times. She said:

“These days, the drought is serious and it’s not like before … even the organisations who used to help us aren’t here. In the past, when there was drought, organisations used to help people. Now there’s drought again, but the organisations have stopped (due to funding cuts).”

Alice Oyuko-Awuor, Clinical Manager with the Emergency Health Unit, said the malnutrition levels in Turkana are alarming and far exceed the normal Global Acute Malnutrition rate of 15%:

“During our first round of outreach clinics, I was shocked and saddened to see so many children and pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Countless parents told us they’re lucky if they can feed their children one cup of plain maize a day, and that they often go to bed hungry. Others are trying to survive on wild fruit.

Jib Pornpun Rabiltossaporn, Save the Children Country Director for Kenya and Madagascar said:

“The majority of the population in northern Kenya rely on pastoralism and fishing to put food on the table. However, recent locust infestations in May this year has led to a significant reduction in vegetation cover, impacting grazing. Families are reporting that their animals are feeding on locust droppings, leading to illnesses, diarrhoea, and even deaths, with devastating consequences on nutrition and health outcomes, especially for vulnerable children.

“For the fisherfolk, rising water levels in Lake Turkana, driven by climate change, have submerged fishing zones and increased the risk of crocodile attacks, with several incidents reported in recent times causing fear and reducing fishing activity, further eroding families’ income and food availability.”

In July, Save the Children deployed its Emergency Health Unit to work with local teams and the Ministry of Health to set up 25 health and nutrition outreach sites to provide services for children and adults in the most at-risk areas.

Save the Children has worked in Kenya since 1950 and in 2024 reached nearly 700,000 people including about 455,000 children.

ENDS

NOTES:

[1] According to the latest IPC figures for Kenya released on 8 September 2025, estimated 2.1 million people are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity (Phase 3 or above) between October 2025 and January 2026, a 16% increase from the 1.8 million people currently experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.

[2] [3] According to the IPC report - https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1159707/?iso3=KEN

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