An appeal launched in March earlier this year has only raised 43% of the $165.71 million asked for, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

UN resident coordinator in Kenya Siddharth Chatterjee said: “We urgently need funding to step-up the response and prevent a further deterioration in the situation”. 

The latest call to help the Kenya Flash Appeal was made last Thursday. The appeal was developed by UN agencies and its partners in response to the government of Kenya’s declaration of the drought as a national disaster. 

The revised appeal, covering September to December 2017, complements the government’s 13-month extended response plan.

Since November 2016, the government of Kenya has allocated $124.3m through phases one and two of its response plan. The third phase of the response is likely to be delayed due to political developments, said the UN.

“We as the UN family and the humanitarian community stand with the government and people of Kenya to address the devastation effects of the drought on some of the country’s most vulnerable communities,” Chatterjee said.

“Today, we are appealing to the international community to step up its support to Kenya by pledging additional resources to bolster our relief efforts in the critical months ahead,” he added.

The rains season at the end of last year in Kenya – October to December – brought severely reduced levels of rainfall in the region.