Kenya currently stands at position 90 in the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI), which is an improvement from the previous ranking where the country stood at position 94.
From the rankings published by the GHI, Kenya beat neighboring countries including Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia to emerge as the leader in nutritional matters within the Eastern Africa region.
Uganda currently sits at position 95, while Tanzania is ranked at position 94 out of 125 countries across the globe.
However, the ranking shows that Kenya has dropped five places since 2015 when it was ranked at position 85 globally.
At the same time, the GHI warned that Kenya is still not out of the woods as far as reponse to hunger is concerned.
Kenya still facing high level of hunger
In the 2023 Global Hunger Index, Kenya ranks 90th out of the 125 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2023 GHI scores. With a score of 22.0 Kenya has a level of hunger that is serious.
The ranking, according to the report, relied on parameters including undernourishment, which is the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient and Child stunting– the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
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Other factors informing the ranking include Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, reflecting in part the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.
GHI defines hunger as the distress associated with a lack of sufficient calories. The index is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels, reflecting multiple dimensions of hunger over time.
Purpose of the index
Beyond just conducting the surveys, the GHI intends to raise awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger while providing a way to compare levels of hunger between countries and regions.
At the same time, the index helps to call attention to those areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and where the need for additional efforts to eliminate hunger is greatest.
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The ranking came at a time Kenya was recovering from a period of drought affecting parts of the country occasioned by insufficient rains.
Following four successive failed rainy seasons, Kenya in 2022 experienced the worst drought in 40 years with the UN’s women’s health agency, UNFPA, reporting that 134,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
The drought crisis, UN added, did not only affect women’s access to essential maternal health care but also caused serious undernutrition among pregnant women, escalating risks to them and their future babies.
But in 2023, Kenya received enhanced rainfall during the second half of the year which was attributed to an El Nino phenomenon leading to increased food production.
