30th August, 2011
Drought situation in Turkana: Demand far outweighs supply
In a shaky voice that is barely audible, she tells us her name and where she is from. And that is all 35 year-old Napar Nachagai can say for now. Too sick to talk and completely immobilised through lack of food and water, Napar waits for treatment at AMREF's medical camp in Turkana, western Kenya.
In this area only children under five years are benefiting from food distributed by emergency relief organisations. However, women and the elderly in particular are seriously in need of support.
Two days before the medical camp, Napar was extremely weak and close to death. She tried to walk but was unable to continue, and collapsed by the side of the road. By chance a passerby carried her in his vehicle to the medical camp in Napak where she received therapeutic feeding and medical attention.
AMREF has set up a medical camp in Turkana to provide food and medical attention to women such as Napar. This support, it is hoped, will benefit over 70,000 people who are in dire need of medical care and food supplementation.
Typically the medical camp begins early in the morning before it gets too hot. Villagers arrive extremely weak, tired and hungry, sometimes lying helplessly on the ground as they wait in queue for treatment. On any given day, the camp in Napak receives approximately 600 people, mostly women, children and the elderly. Thanks to this outreach, 360 children have been immunised for communicable diseases such as polio, influenza, tetanus and TB and 1200 adults treated for various ailments such as malaria, diarroheal diseases, upper respiratory, urinary tract, eye and skin infections. 
The demand for medical services and food relief however far outweighs the supply.
AMREF is urging both governmental and non-governmental organisation to strengthen their outreach for greater numbers of the community, not just young children. Otherwise the lives of particularly women and the elderly will continue to hang on a very delicate thread.
Find out more about AMREF's work supporting drought-affected communities