Over 300,000 refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma and Dadaab camps are facing severe food shortages after drastic funding cuts from the United States led the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce food rations to just 30% of the daily recommended nutritional intake. The situation, described by WFP officials as “a slow starvation,” is unfolding visibly in health centers like Kakuma’s Amusait Hospital, where emaciated children with acute malnutrition are being treated under strained conditions.
One-year-old Hellen, severely malnourished, lies motionless with peeling skin. Nine-month-old James, son of Ugandan refugee Agnes Awila, is one of thousands of children now receiving just one meal a day. “If there’s no food, what do you feed them?” Awila asks. Until this year, the U.S. government had funded over 70% of WFP’s operations in Kenya. However, cuts introduced under the “America First” policy led to the discontinuation of critical cash transfer programs and a sharp reduction in food aid. The $4 million monthly “bamba chakula” cash support, which enabled families to purchase fresh food, is now gone—collapsing small-scale refugee economies and local food markets.
Mothers like Mukuniwa Bililo Mami, a diabetic who fled DR Congo, say they are forced to consume food not suitable for their health. “We used to eat three times a day. Now we are lucky to eat once,” she says. Traders in the camps, including Sudanese refugee Badaba Ibrahim, are also struggling. “People can’t buy. They just beg. Some sit outside my shop all day,” he says. At 2 p.m. in a cramped metal shelter, South Sudanese mother Agnes Livio serves her children their first and only meal of the day. “There’s no breakfast anymore,” she says.
With no new substantial funding confirmed, and only vague signals from smaller donors, WFP warns the crisis could become catastrophic by August. “The outlook is grim,” said Felix Okech, WFP’s head of refugee operations in Kenya. “Without urgent support, we’re watching a population starve in slow motion.” Kenya hosts refugees from Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, DR Congo, and Sudan. WFP and UNHCR are appealing for emergency donor support to avert a full-scale humanitarian disaster.
