Report shows drop in Turkana malnutrition
By Print Reporter, August 21, 2024A survey conducted by Standard Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) has revealed that Turkana County Global Acute malnutrition has reduced.
The latest SMART survey has shown that county’s Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate decreased by up to five points percentage from the initial 26.40% in June 2023 to 21.8% in June 2024.
Turkana County Director of Nutrition and Dietetics, Saada Loyokon, explained that Turkana South’s GAM rate has improved due to the collaborative efforts of stakeholders despite the insecurity within the sub-county.
“The directorate will be working together with the Community Health Services to ensure that the nutrition indicators are also improved at the community level,” she said.
She added that the directorate will also seek to work with programs, such as Tuberculosis, to assess the required nutrition interventions.
She said the decreasing in GAM rate can be attributed to the short rains and the intensified humanitarian support following the prolonged drought.
She said the survey also revealed that Turkana South showed a significant improvement, with the GAM rate dropping from 32.7% to 23.7% in the same period.