The Cabinet has authorised the release of Ksh4.1 billion to scale up drought response interventions in regions affected by worsening drought conditions.

In a Cabinet despatch on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the cabinet secretaries acknowledged that the drought conditions have deteriorated rapidly since January 2026 following the failure of the October–December 2025 short rains. 

“On the drought in some parts of the country, the Cabinet authorised the release of Ksh4.1 billion to scale up response interventions across affected regions,” the communique read in part.

According to the cabinet, an estimated 3.3 million people are currently facing acute food insecurity, a number that could rise to 3.6 million by June 2026 if urgent intervention is not taken, including in pockets of counties outside the arid and semi-arid areas.

The Cabinet further highlighted the counties that are facing the acute drought conditions, which include Mandera, Wajir, Kwale, and Kilifi counties.

In addition, the Cabinet noted that the four counties are in the Alarm phase, while 12 counties are in the Alert phase, most of them on a worsening trajectory.

Danger of malnutrition

On the other hand, the Cabinet explained that acute malnutrition continues to rise, affecting over 810,000 children and 104,000 pregnant and lactating women, alongside other vulnerable groups.

According to the Cabinet, the additional funding will supplement allocations made in December 2025 and January 2026, which supported relief food, logistics, and limited non-food assistance. Current stocks are expected to last only two to three weeks, underscoring the urgency of further support.

Current drought situation

The report comes days after the Kenya Red Cross Society revealed that over 2 million people in Kenya are currently affected by drought and need urgent support.

In a statement on their social media handles on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, the Kenya Red Cross said that urgent help is required to reach more communities affected by this situation.

“Drought continues to impact over 2 million people across Kenya. Kenya Red Cross, with partners, is delivering water, food and cash assistance to help families cope. Urgent support is needed to reach more communities,” the Kenya Red Cross stated.

In their statement, the Kenya Red Cross has noted that there has been a deterioration in nutrition across arid counties in Kenya. Eight counties are the most affected among them: Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, Samburu, Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, West Pokot and Baringo.

Further, the Kenya Red Cross has narrowed it down to indicate that among the eight counties, the most affected are Wajir, Tana River and West Pokot counties.

According to the Red Cross statement, there are 784,000 cases of malnourished children, whereas over 300,000 homesteads have an urgent need for water.