Save the Children sounds alarm over deepening humanitarian crisis in Turkana

Speaking during a press briefing in Nairobi on Friday, November 13, 2026, Save the Children Kenya Country Director Pornpun “Jib” Rabiltossaporn and Save the Children US President and CEO Janti Soeripto said humanitarian needs in the region continue to outpace available resources, leaving vulnerable communities increasingly exposed to hunger, malnutrition and other risks.

The organisation said Turkana remains at the centre of one of Kenya's most severe humanitarian crises, with the combined effects of recurrent drought, flooding threats, regional conflicts and chronic poverty placing additional pressure on already stretched public services.

According to the briefing, an estimated 375,900 people in Turkana are experiencing acute food insecurity, while 99,190 children aged between six and 29 months require treatment for malnutrition, based on figures cited from the long-rains assessment report.

The situation has been compounded by reduced humanitarian funding, which has disrupted critical health and nutrition programmes, including the supply of specialised nutritional products used to treat malnourished children.

Save the Children revealed that its health and nutrition outreach activities in Turkana declined from 158 in January 2025 to just 24 by October 10, 2026, significantly reducing access to essential services for vulnerable communities.

The organisation also disclosed that its workforce in the county had fallen from 55 employees to just four following international aid cuts, while funding reductions affected its wider Kenya country programme.

Janti said the funding reductions had particularly affected children, with the disruption of supplies such as Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) interfering with the treatment of children suffering from malnutrition.

"Services that impact children directly scaled down or were terminated completely," she said, describing the consequences of foreign aid cuts that began in 2025.

She warned that assistance from humanitarian organisations and government agencies was struggling to keep pace with growing needs arising from displacement, drought and other environmental shocks.

The crisis is also being driven by an increasing number of refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring countries and arriving in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement.

The briefing indicated that approximately 500 refugees have been arriving in the area every week in recent months, with about 70 per cent of them being children.

Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement currently host more than 318,000 refugees and asylum seekers, placing additional pressure on essential services and resources.

Beyond food insecurity, the organisation highlighted serious child protection concerns, including unaccompanied children, mental health needs and teenage pregnancies among vulnerable adolescents.

Drought has further undermined livelihoods, with communities struggling to access clean water for domestic use and livestock. The briefing noted that Turkana had not received substantial rainfall since February 2025, leaving riverbeds dry and families increasingly dependent on temporary water sources.

Save the Children warned that reliance on water trucking was neither affordable nor sustainable in the long term, calling for greater investment in reliable water infrastructure and other drought-resilient solutions.

Despite the challenges, the organisation pointed to ongoing interventions that are helping communities access essential services.

These include mobile health clinics in remote parts of Lodwar, which provide services such as immunisation, maternal healthcare, nutrition screening and treatment for common childhood illnesses.

The organisation also highlighted community health workers who are helping identify and treat malnutrition, while educating mothers on how to manage their children's nutritional needs at home.

Rabiltossaporn and Soeripto called on the Kenyan government, international donors, humanitarian organisations and local communities to work together in developing more sustainable approaches to humanitarian assistance.

They argued that emergency interventions must be complemented by long-term investments in nutrition, livelihoods, healthcare and water access to prevent communities from repeatedly falling into humanitarian crises.

Save the Children further proposed restoring development programmes such as its former Nawiri initiative, which supported maternal and child nutrition alongside household livelihoods through small loans and business training.

The organisation also called for greater investment in locally produced nutritional supplements and stronger refugee integration policies that would allow displaced populations to participate more fully in society while easing pressure on host communities.

Janti said Turkana could become an example of a more sustainable humanitarian assistance model if international donors, government agencies and local communities committed to coordinated interventions.

The organisation maintained that addressing the crisis requires renewed international investment and a shift towards community-led programmes that not only respond to immediate needs but also strengthen resilience among children and families.