PROLONGED DROUGHT HARMS MENTAL HEALTH

 

By Janelle Okongo, 

Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua   admitted that the drought situation in Kenya is dire when launching a call to action by private sector to help raise 2 billion shillings needed to save helpless Kenyans.

Report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of June, 2022 says, 3.5 million people in Kenya are facing hunger due to drought.

 The drought situation hits hard and has posed mental health effects to the people living in affected areas in the country interfering with their well- being.

For instance in Turkana county, residents are in great need of food. Children of age 5 to 8 have become mulnourished and the elderly have grown weak due to lack of food. As they constantly miss meals, they worry much on the means of acquiring meals.

Persistent thoughts on where and how to source for food as well as children growing thin on daily basis, leads to increased cases of depression among affected parents.

Counties linked to livestock rearing as their means of livelihood such as Kajiado, are battling with economic stress of the drought.

Currently about 2.5 million livestock have perished due to unavailability of water and pasture. Residence of Kajiado have been forced to feed their animals with flour for survival. Witnessing their livestock perish on the market before selling out tortures them psychologically at large.

Some communities have been forced to go in search of water to enable them facilitate their personal cleaning and quench their thirst. Some opt to drink any available water for survival, hence exposing themselves to water-borne diseases. This leads to social and personal pressure for they lack finances to get them treated leading to anxiety and suicide cases.

Some communities that have taken the intiative of migrating to source for pasture for their livestock, experience displacement hence suffer geographical isolation. Moreover this has greatly disrupted the relationship of many families.

Let's not give this menace a blind eye because our some  people are dying slowly in thoughts. As much as the government, NGO's and well wishers are striving to offer help in terms of foodstuffs, let them deploy psychiatrists in affected counties to help check and offer guidance to the victims to save some lives. The climate change is here to stay. Save one save all .

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