The Situation

We work in two areas of Kenya, Isiolo County and Lamu County.

Between late 2016 and spring 2017, Isiolo County, north of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, went into a food crisis. After the vicious drought of that period, the food production had suffered severely.

Young children suffering from malnutrition must be treated before they reach the age of five, in order to prevent lifelong effects on physical and cognitive development – but many villages in Isiolo are several days’ walk from a hospital. At the time, this made the journey impossible. There were 2.6 million people across Kenya in urgent need of food, and Doctors of the World mobilised an emergency operation.

Our work

In 2016, we launched an emergency project in Isiolo to respond to the drought. Our medical team conducts outreach visits to several remote villages every week, in order to screen and treat pregnant women, new mothers, and children under five for malnutrition. We also offer basic primary care during these outreach sessions.

We provided 1,039 screenings to identify those cases of malnutrition in pregnant and lactating women and children under five, which are the highest risk groups.

Outreach teams provided 677 courses of treatment in the community for standard cases (Ready to Use Supplementary Feeding (RUSF) and Ready to Use therapeutic Feeding (RUTF); Vitamin A; CSB/fortified porridge; Iron etc.) Doctors of the World medical volunteers and staff (doctors, nurses, and midwives) worked wit MoH staff; Community Health Volunteers (CHVs)/Education Workers (CHEWs); nurses; and nutritionists.