Kenya: Another Kenya

NAIROBI, 17 December 2009 (IRIN) - Just a few hundred kilometres north of the glittering skyscrapers of Nairobi and game parks that attract tourists from across the world, a common greeting when strangers meet is, “Habari ya Kenya?” – What news from Kenya? For although districts such as Moyale, Marsabit, Samburu and Wajir are in the same republic as Nairobi, their residents are resigned to living in what amounts to another country.

The vast arid lands of northern Kenya are generally drier, less fertile, poorer and rank lower in most humanitarian and development league tables than the rest of the country.

Guns are ubiquitous, state security services largely absent. Violent deaths among the pastoralists who make up most of the population are frequent. More blood flows when it rains. Preventable and treatable diseases are often neither prevented nor treated for want of adequate healthcare. Attracting qualified doctors and nurses to the hinterland is a major challenge. There is not enough to eat, or if there is, it is too expensive or insufficiently nutritious - millions depend on food aid. In many northern areas, more than a third of children are at risk of malnutrition. All these issues and more are explored in this special series of articles and photographs.

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Food Security Dealing with drought Residents of Moyale in the upper eastern region of Kenya, along the border with Ethiopia, are used to unpredictable and mostly dry weather. read more • Food security warning after rains fail • Where there's cluck, there's brass Health Where life can be brutal and short In remote northeastern Kenya, poor healthcare, a harsh climate and an ever-growing influx of refugees conspire to make preventable and treatable diseases more deadly than elsewhere in the country. read more • Cholera claims 24 lives in northwest • Replacing the bucket latrine Conflict What drives conflict in northern Kenya Cattle raids, inter-communal resource conflicts and banditry are common across much of the arid lands of northern Kenya, where firearms are increasingly common among pastoralist communities. In 2009 alone, such violence claimed more than 354 lives, according to OCHA, Kenya.read more Children The role of culture in child nutrition Two-year-old Safia Emoi is weak, thin and listless. She has just arrived at the Heillu Health centre with her mother Amima Mohammed ...read more • "Children are on the brink of death" in northeast • Selling the cows to feed the children Education In and out of school in Samburu Many Kenyan children are in school, but enrolment in the north has been adversely affected by insecurity, food scarcity and traditional attitudes, residents and teachers said. read more • Food keeps schools open

Photo slideshow : Northern Exposure     Hear our Voices   Amos Lerasia, "Now the drought comes almost every year"   Khadijah Ibrahim, "My husband has been sending me less money"     Related Reports   Drought planning urged in northeast Women weighed down by culture Campaign to contain measles outbreak in northeast Making a living from livestock in Kenya's arid northwest has never been easy (photo essay) Resource battle kills 20 in north Malnutrition crisis in northwest The dangers of pastoralism New cases of black fever in north-east   Special Report Feedback IRIN welcomes feedback. Send your messages to feedback.