IRIN

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a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Another Kenya
The humanitarian cost of under-development

NAIROBI, 17 December 2009 (IRIN) - Just a few hundred kilometres north of the glittering skyscrapers of Nairobi and game parks that attract tourists from across the world, a common greeting when strangers meet is, “Habari ya Kenya?” – What news from Kenya? For although districts such as Moyale, Marsabit, Samburu and Wajir are in the same republic as Nairobi, their residents are resigned to living in what amounts to another country.

The vast arid lands of northern Kenya are generally drier, less fertile, poorer and rank lower in most humanitarian and development league tables than the rest of the country.
Guns are ubiquitous, state security services largely absent. Violent deaths among the pastoralists who make up most of the population are frequent. More blood flows when it rains. Preventable and treatable diseases are often neither prevented nor treated for want of adequate healthcare. Attracting qualified doctors and nurses to the hinterland is a major challenge. There is not enough to eat, or if there is, it is too expensive or insufficiently nutritious - millions depend on food aid. In many northern areas, more than a third of children are at risk of malnutrition. All these issues and more are explored in this special series of articles and photographs
http://www.irinnews.org/In-depth/87469/83/