US donates billions to fight drought after First Lady Jill Biden visit
United States First Lady Jill Biden has left behind a bag of goodies to help the drought stricken Kenyans upon completing her three-day visit in the country.
This is after the United States donated Sh16 billion in support of Kenya’s drought relief efforts.
According to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the funds will help meet the urgent needs for approximately 1.3 million people across Kenya.
The donation comes at a time when more than 4 million Kenyans are in need of urgent food.
This follows a prolonged drought experience in various parts of the country that has left more than four million people in the grips of a dire hunger crisis, with the number expected to rise to over five million by June this year.
While in the country, the US First Lady Jill Biden visited drought-affected communities and appealed for wealthy nations to give more donations.
She also called for a greater spotlight on the record-breaking drought which threatens 22 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia with starvation.
The United States has funded the lion’s share of the aid budget for the disaster which has killed millions of livestock and destroyed crops.
“We cannot be the only ones. We have to have other countries join us in this global effort to help these people of the region,” said Jill while in Kajiado.
In bid to cushion the drought affected regions, the USAID is also set to provide emergency food items such as sorghum, maize, yellow split peas, and vegetable oil for families living in areas where local markets are not functioning.
Just a day before Jill visited the country, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya leaders while addressing the nation during the national prayer day at Jivanjee grounds called upon Kenyans to welcome the US First Lady and also share their hunger plight with her.
The coalition has also been pushing the ruling government to lower the prices of commodities.
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