openPR Logo
Press release

Plan to launch $2million emergency drought operation in Kenya: half sponsored children affected

09-02-2011 08:38 AM CET | Politics, Law & Society

Press release from: PlanUK

PLAN is to launch a $2.5 million aid operation for children and families in Kenya affected by the East Africa drought.

Emergency assessments have found that more than 27,400 sponsored children are affected by the crisis, which is around 38 per cent of total sponsored children in Kenya. Latest assessments have found the situation to be worse than previously believed.

Immediate aid will target around 114,000 people, including sponsored children and will involve trucking in water, water treatment, medicine, and delivering therapeutic feeding (nutrition) programs, supplementary feeding at 414 schools, shelter and hygiene promotion.

Plan will start urgent work in the Tharaka, Machakos, Kilifi and Kwale areas where it has existing program units (PUs) and may also intervene in the non-PU areas of Samburu, Maralal, Makueni and Kitui counties.

Recent reports from the field are painting a disturbing scene of families struggling with malnutrition and water-bourne diseases.

A health facility at Maralal which has been handling increasing cases of malnutrition reported rapid rise in pneumonia among children who have to trek up to 20 km and queue at the well throughout the night to fetch water for their families.

Schools are also experiencing serious shortage of food with 90 per cent of them reportedly overwhelmed by declining supplies.

Severe problems are visible with increased death of livestock. In Samburu and Maralal carcases of animals in different stages of decomposition can be seen in the fields.

Food prices have skyrocketed and the going trade-price of one 90 kg bag of maize meal is now three goats (increased from the usual one).

In addition to concerns over immediate welfare and malnutrition, there are worries over child protection with families being separated, children having to travel far from home to earn food money, and feared increases in child labour, school dropout and even child marriage.

In addition to immediate aid, Plan will focus on child protection, conflict management and peace building.

Regional Director of Plan in Eastern and Southern Africa, Gezahegn Kebede, said: “We are in a situation where children are exposed to the highest level of neglect due the current drought and food crisis. It is with deep concern today that the situation of most children in Kenya remains critical due to hunger, malnutrition, physical and mental abuse due to this current crisis.

“There is a high risk of child mortality, disease outbreaks including measles, acute watery diarrhea and pneumonia. There is also a risk of children being exposed to other forms of abuses such as injury as they scramble for food; sexual abuse as they stay in densely populated shelters and in the streets. It is the obligation of all of us to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the survival and protection of every child.”

The Horn of Africa drought crisis has been triggered by repeated, long-term droughts, rising global food prices, land issues and conflict in the region. An estimated 10 million people are seriously at risk. Plan also has emergency work ongoing in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

For more information please visit http://www.plan-uk.org/sponsor-a-child/

Plan is a global children’s charity. We work with children in the world’s poorest countries to help them build a better future. A future you would want for all children, your family and friends.

For over 70 years we’ve been taking action and standing up for every child’s right to fulfil their potentia

Plan UK
Finsgate
5-7 Cranwood Street
London
EC1V 9LH
Media Representative: Brendan Wilde
brendan@organic-development.com

This release was published on openPR.

Permanent link to this press release:

Copy
Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release.

You can edit or delete your press release Plan to launch $2million emergency drought operation in Kenya: half sponsored children affected here

News-ID: 190124 • Views:

More Releases from PlanUK

Schools join the fight against early and forced marriage
Schools join the fight against early and forced marriage
On the day the UK government is focusing on tackling domestic abuse – including forced marriage – Plan is launching the first-ever national education resource dedicated to the issue. We are providing thousands of secondary schools with a ground-breaking animated film and learning plan: ‘The Right to Say No’. Schools have long shied away from discussing the issue – despite hundreds of girls in the UK going missing to be married
Plan Urges Commonwealth Leaders to End Early and Forced Marriage
Ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia, the Royal Commonwealth Society and Plan International have issued a joint call for action in a new policy paper. Entitled Empowering Girls: what the Commonwealth can do to end early and forced marriage, the paper reveals the shocking prevalence and damaging effects of early and forced marriage on girls across the Commonwealth. The paper highlights that more than ten

More Releases for Plan

Online Marketplace Business Plan
Understanding the revenue model of a marketplace. A marketplace business model ( https://www.yourretailcoach.in/online-market-research-companies-pune/ ) is a platform that connects buyers and sellers. They provide a platform for the two parties to interact and complete a transaction. A marketplace model has a buyer and a seller. The buyer can be a business entity or an end customer, and the seller can be a business entity or an end customer depending upon the
The Plan Collection is Giving Away a House Plan to One Grand Prize Winner
The Plan Collection, a leading resource for house plans and home design ideas, wants to help those in the market to build their own home get one step closer in its annual dream home House Plan Giveaway. Participants will have the chance to win a grand prize of any house plan hosted on ThePlanCollection.com valued at up to $2,000. “With thousands of participants over the years, the annual giveaway represents a
Business Plan / Project Report
Business Plan / Project Report is the first and most crucial factor before starting any business. It gives you the freedom of taking a wise decision related to that business. Business plan / Project Report comprises the information on industry, market, finance, operations, technology, competitors, targeted market segmentation, customer satisfaction and social endowment etc. It is essential for those, who are seeking financial assistance from different financial institutions and banks,
How to Plan Delisting
Delisting means permanent removal of securities of a listed company from all or any of the recognised stock exchanges where such shares are listed. As a consequence of delisting, the securities of that company would no longer be tradable at that stock exchange. Applicability of Delisting Regulation: 1. Delisting of Equity Shares from all the stock exchanges or any STXs except securities listed without making a public issue, on the institutional trading platform
PLAN TO PLAN? SURVEY TO ASSESS PLANNING BEST PRACTICES
Most Companies are Hot or Cold When It Comes to Annual Planning September 16, 2013 Provo, UT (U.S.A.)—When it comes to annual planning, one business leader knows that not all organizations are equal. To back these claims, his company is launching an online study to determine just how well executives feel they plan. “It’s been said that growth is much easier to achieve when you approach it consciously and deliberately,”
e-Plan, Inc., Patented
e-Plan, Inc., developer of leading web-based plan review management and technology software for building plan checking and review, is pleased to announce it has been granted a patent for its innovative technology by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Patent No. 7,975,222. This patent, entitled “System and Method for Dynamic Linking between Graphic Documents and Comment Databases,” protects e-Plan’s proprietary method for the dynamic linking of a comment database storing