Acute malnutrition in Kenya’s arid and semi‑arid lands (ASALs) and Dadaab, Kakuma, and Kalobeyei refugee camps remains highly concerning. More than 883,300 children aged 6-59 months and 117,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will require treatment between April 2026 and March 2027—a 19 percent increase from last year. This includes 221,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition.  

Between April and July 2026, 14 areas were classified in IPC AMN Phase 4 (Critical), including Garissa, Tana River, Wajir, Mandera, North Horr/Chalbi, Laisamis/Loyangalani, several Turkana sub‑counties, Baringo East–Tiaty, Isiolo, Samburu and Dadaab. Conditions have likely worsened during the August–October 2026 projection period due to high disease burden, depleted household stocks, seasonal price increases and the end of the Emergency Nutrition Response Fund. El Niño-related flooding is expected to be further disrupting access to services and worsening water, sanitation and hygiene conditions. 

• Procurement of Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) commodities.  
• Heightened nutrition surveillance, situation monitoring and coordination.  
• Scale up of integrated health and nutrition outreaches and mass screening.  
• Nutrition response planning and resource mobilisation.  
• Hotspot mapping and prioritisation of outreach sites.  
• Invest in Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) strategies to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF), maternal nutrition and WASH practices.  
• Initiate and scale up community-based approaches to address poor dietary intake among children 6 to 23 months  
• Sustain disease surveillance and response to outbreak.  
• Advocate for counties to finance data and surveillance activities to allow for comprehensive nutrition situation analysis.  
• Implement multisector responses and interventions to address immediate needs with complementary actions to build resilience of communities.