Story

Protecting families from hunger while building a better response system

02 June 2026

Caption: Mumina Habera Jariso, 66, with her granddaughter Hajeji Hassan, 5, and nephew Guyo Issack, 4, at a food distribution centre in Osingo Village, Tana River County. Through WFP’s Lisha Jamii programme and the wider UN Kenya drought response, vulnerable households receive food assistance to meet immediate needs, protect livelihoods and stabilise consumption amid worsening climate conditions.

Photo: © WFP

Nearly 9 million people received food and nutrition support in 2025 as Kenya strengthened county systems to respond better to hunger and malnutrition.

Mumina Habera Jariso is 66. She came to a food distribution point in Osingo Village, Tana River County, with her five-year-old granddaughter Hajeji and four-year-old nephew Guyo. Three generations. One household. One food assistance entitlement between them.

Her situation is not exceptional in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL). It is structural. Recurrent drought, displacement and constrained livelihoods mean that food insecurity is not a periodic emergency in ASAL counties. It is a permanent feature of life that requires both immediate response and sustained system building.

In 2025, 8,917,541 nutritionally vulnerable people received food and nutrition support through UN-supported interventions: 2,752,187 girls, 2,640,009 boys, 2,859,015 women and 666,330 men. Among them, 111,629 children with severe acute malnutrition received treatment through government-led health systems, with a cure rate of 80.7 per cent. Almost 5.2 million children received Vitamin A supplementation. Anticipatory action reached 159,250 acutely food-insecure people ahead of forecast drought, reducing the depth of the crisis before it peaked.

These delivery results sit on systemic foundations strengthened significantly in 2025. The Kenya Nutrition Action Plan 2023–2027 was finalised, providing a coherent multisectoral framework for long-term investment. Fifteen counties developed their own costed County Nutrition Action Plans. Counties that have nutrition platforms, plans and allocated budgets are better placed to sustain outreach between emergencies and to target assistance with greater precision than counties that depend entirely on national or international response.

Counties that have nutrition platforms, plans and allocated budgets are better placed to sustain outreach between emergencies and to target assistance with greater precision.

Dahira and her children outside their temporary shelter in Wajir County check cash assistance received through mobile money, part of anticipatory action by UN Kenya — Caption: Dahira and her children outside their temporary shelter in Wajir County check cash assistance received through mobile money, part of
anticipatory action by UN Kenya through WFP and partners to support vulnerable families ahead of the expected drought and reduce the risk of
food insecurity.

Photo: © WFP

Food assistance also reached 738,896 refugees and asylum seekers through government-led systems, reflecting a deliberate push towards integrating humanitarian delivery within national frameworks rather than running it in parallel.

Reach declined slightly from 2024 levels of 9.9 million. Some of this reflects easing peak drought conditions; some reflects funding disruptions and reduced survey coverage. The risk is that as international humanitarian funding contracts further, the system being built will be tested before it is fully ready.

Funding gaps remain real. Disruptions to external financing and logistical constraints continued to limit scale in 2025. But the institutional investments made this year are what will determine whether Kenya's nutrition response becomes more efficient and equitable in the years ahead. And whether that architecture holds will depend on what Kenya, its counties and its partners commit to in 2026.