Maintains - improving health, nutrition and social-protection to aid Kenya

In Kenya, our research will explore how to strengthen health, nutrition, and social protection services and systems so that they can be maintained and adapted during ﬂoods and droughts. Explore all our latest research here.

Kenya experiences persistent and harsh droughts as well as frequent floods, causing food insecurity, high levels of malnutrition-related illnesses and deaths, and disruption to livelihoods.

For example in 2017, according to UNICEF, almost 370,000 children required treatment for acute malnutrition, including 72,600 with the most severe form who required specialised, life-saving care. Acute malnutrition rates were at least double the emergency threshold of 15% in some areas of northern Kenya. Turkana, in particular, was badly affected.

**A health care worker measures a child’s arm as part of a malnutrition screening programme at a health clinic in Kenya.** Credit: Russell Watkins/DFID

Research focus for Kenya

Social protection:

What role can the Enhanced Single Registry (ESR) play in enabling the social protection system to respond to shocks?

What are the opportunities and barriers around use of the ESR by other government and non-governmental stakeholders?
What are the institutional capacity requirements to manage the ESR as a tool to deliver shock-responsive social protection?
How is the ESR operationalised at county level?

Health and nutrition:

How can health and nutrition systems become more shock responsive?

How did health and nutrition systems respond to recent drought and floods?
Can shock-responsive nutrition programming (CMAM Surge) be replicated in other sectors and for other shocks?
How can early warning systems be optimised to support the scaling up of health and nutrition services?

In conducting these studies, Maintains works directly with the , FCDO, the , and other development partners. The research builds on and enhances existing evidence and addresses knowledge gaps.