Nairobi, Kenya, November 18, 2022 — Ahead of World Children’s Day this year on 20th November 2022, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) joins the international community in calling for a more inclusive and equal world for every child. Children are amongst the most at-risk when crises strike. Right now, 2.8 million children in East Africa are suffering from malnutrition and diseases like cholera due to the impacts of climate change, conflict, and the cost-of-living crisis. A fifth consecutive failed rainy season in East Africa has caused a devastating drought, creating a severe lack of food and water for largely agro-pastoral communities, on top of preexisting displacements from conflicts in Somalia and Ethiopia. The conflict in Ukraine has impacted access to crucial grain supplies, exacerbating food shortages.
Dr. Sila Monthe, IRC Health Manager in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya said,
“For children, malnourishment has lifelong impacts. The first 1000 days of a child’s life are critical to the child’s development. It’s a make-or-break period. During this time, poor nutrition for the growing child has devastating and long-lasting effects on the child’s brain. This will impact a child’s ability to learn, play, and grow, effectively robbing them of opportunities that are their right.”
In Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya,almost 20,000 refugees arrived, displaced from Somalia as they search for support, food and water just this year. Of the 380 under-five children that were screened at an IRC clinic in the camp from August to October, 68% were acutely malnourished. In Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, the IRC stabilization ward for malnourished children saw an increase in admissions of 800%, just this year alone.
Due to the new arrivals and overcrowding in the camp, disease outbreaks of cholera and measles have been detected and are rising daily, with children between the ages of 0 and 9 making up almost half of all cases, at 48.6%.
The IRC, along with support from organizations such as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), works to treat and rehabilitate children that are refugees or from host communities, through IRC hospitals and nutrition clinics. Health workers work tirelessly to provide life-saving nutrition assessments and programs to combat acute malnutrition.
“While support to combat the larger hunger crisis is necessary, we need to address the reasons that brought us here in the first place. We need to do better for our children by taking decisive action on the climate crisis – this includes action on mitigation, adaptation, and finance, prioritizing communities and children in fragile and conflict-affected states. Children are innocent victims of a calamity they did not cause – Children should be in schools, not stabilization centers,” says Dr. Sila.
