Turkana appeals for urgent help as drought situation worsens

The drought situation in Turkana county is quickly worsening as leaders call for urgent help as thousands of residents become vulnerable. 

The county government is calling for sustained and targeted assistance to save the lives of both people and livestock.

Deputy Governor John Erus said the drought and famine situation in was severe and required urgent intervention.

“Several surveys and reports indicate a sharp rise in vulnerability levels. Our internal assessments also show increasing malnutrition rates and a significant decline in pasture due to drought,” he said.

He called on the national government and humanitarian agencies to scale up lifesaving food aid and other emergency interventions.

At the same time, the county appealed to donor agencies and development partners to align their funding with locally identified priorities to ensure maximum impact.

He warned that haphazard implementation of projects may fail to transform livelihoods in the largely arid region.

“Targeted investment will accelerate the transition from donor dependence to long-term self-reliance. We must align all our programmes to priority areas that can transform our people to be self-reliant,” he said.

The deputy governor spoke during a consultative meeting with the United States Government Office of Foreign Assistance (USG-OFA) in Lodwar.

He noted that the county has already mapped priority value chains with strong economic potential and requires complementary partner support to unlock them.

Erus commended development partners for ongoing humanitarian and resilience programmes, citing support by the Wold Food Programme in drought response and fisheries value chains, as well as interventions by IRC, AMREF, World Vision and UNICEF in nutrition, health and social protection.

Sarah Ayodi of the World Food Programme said the meeting marked the start of the USG-OFA team’s evaluation mission in Turkana.

She said the delegation will review the impact of previous interventions and assess current vulnerability levels to guide future support.

The team is expected to visit projects implemented by UNICEF, WFP, AMREF, World Vision and IRC across the county to assess progress and identify ongoing needs.

Chief Officers Agnes Mana (Promotive and Preventive Health), Aaron Nanok (Agriculture), Saada Loyokon (Nutrition), Mike Aupe (Partnerships) and Alex Marangach (Social Protection) attended the meeting.