March 6, 2024, Lodwar (Public Communicatons and Media Relations)
The Deputy Governor, Dr John Erus today hosted the French Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Arnaud Suquet and the WFP Country Director and Representative, Lauren Landis in his office.
The purpose of the visit was to discuss and witness the impact of the Blanket Supplementary Feeding Program (BSFP) supported by the French Government.
The BSFP is an emergency intervention targeting Turkana North and Turkana South sub-counties, which are the hardest hit by malnutrition.
According to SMART Survey report (Feb.2023), the two sub-counties have 3 in 10 under-fives, who remain malnourished.
Dr Erus acknowledged that Turkana County Government appreciates strategic collaboration efforts of partners in ensuring sustainable development of the Turkana residents.
“Investing in women and children is key. This is why we use an integrated approach and take advantage of technology to address a number of issues in our ongoing projects such as the borehole at LCRH, One Health Initiative, education and agriculture are key to realize nutrition stability in Turkana County.”
On his part, the French Ambassador Arnaud Suguet remarked that his government in collaboration with WFP are championing for food nutrition and school feeding programmes and hence promoting healthy living.
“Our ongoing Blanket Supplementary Feeding Program in the two sub-counties is a promising success focusing on 48,685 children, pregnant women and lactating mothers as direct beneficiaries of this approach,” said Ambassador Suquet.
Turkana County Government has partnered with World Food Programme (WFP) and a local partner, SAPCONE to implement the 6-month project, and the first two completed cycles have benefited 5,260 pregnant women and girls together with 37,827 under-fives.
This project would assist in alleviating Turkana County’s emergency nutrition situation and widespread food insecurity. The county’s GAM rate is 27.0% which is higher than the WHO recommended threshold of less than 15%.
Accompanying the Ambassador from the Embassy was Victoria Philippe (NGO & Humanitarian Officer). Alexandra Baldwin (WFP Partnerships Officer), Lynette Dinga (Head of Nutrition), Martin Karimi (Communications-WFP).
From Turkana County were; Thomas Siele (Snr. DCC), Dr Albert Gamoe (Deputy County Secretary), Joseph Nyan’ga (Deputy County Secretary), Elizabeth Loote (CECM Tourism, Culture, Natural Resources and Climate Change), Peter Lomorukai (Chief Officer, Preventive and Promotive Health), and Directors from the respective Departments.
