The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) expressed serious concerns regarding the devastating cuts to food rations affecting over 700,000 refugees in Kenya's largest refugee camps on Wednesday. The cuts are a direct consequence of the withdrawal of essential humanitarian aid by the US and other donor governments, resulting in severe funding shortages that threaten the operations of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its partner aid agencies.
As of June, refugees in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps and Kalobeyei Settlement are receiving only 28 percent of their full in-kind food ration, amounting to 3 kg of rice, 1 kg of lentils and 500 ml of cooking oil per person per month — far below the nutritional requirements recommended by the UN.
At the same time, all cash assistance has been stopped, meaning refugees can no longer buy essential proteins, vegetables and other items. According to USCRI, the situation has become so dire that some refugee mothers have chosen to end their lives rather than witness the starvation of their children.
Over the past five years, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya has increased by over 70 percent – from around 500,000 to 853,000 – as people have fled conflict and drought in neighboring countries such as Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia.
Kakuma and Dadaab are two of the largest refugee camps in the world. Both were initially established to address urgent humanitarian needs, but have become long-term settlements due to protracted displacement crises.
Even before the latest cuts, levels of food insecurity in Kenya’s refugee camps were devastatingly high. The global acute malnutrition (GAM) rate among refugee children under five and pregnant or breastfeeding women was above 13 percent.
USCRI warns that starving children are filling hospital beds, severely malnourished, and time is running out. If this trend continued, refugees in Kenya would face the specter of a widespread, man-made famine.
“Behind every statistic is a child going hungry, a mother skipping meals, so her baby can eat, a teenager forced to abandon school to search for food or work,” said USCRI President and CEO Eskinder Negash.
“These are not abstract numbers—they are families who have already fled war, persecution, and unimaginable trauma, only to now face starvation in places they hoped would offer safety. They are now left to languish in open-air prisons.”
WFP has warned that August will bring an additional wave of uncertainty if the agency does not receive immediate funding. According to the UN agency, US$44 million are urgently needed to provide full rations and cash assistance to all refugees in Kenya through August. Without funding, more refugees will starve.
According to USCRI, failing to act swiftly will severely undermine the health, safety, and dignity of refugees, while eroding the progress made toward integration and self-reliance under Kenya’s Refugee Act and the Shirika Plan.
The Shirika Plan, launched by the Kenyan government in March 2025, aims to integrate refugees into Kenyan society and reduce reliance on traditional refugee camps. The plan seeks to foster socioeconomic inclusion for refugees and host communities by developing integrated settlements and promoting shared prosperity.
USCRI is appealing to the international community — including governments, the private sector, and international financial institutions — to mobilize emergency funding immediately to restore full food rations, reinstate cash-based assistance, reopen nutrition support services, and reinforce protection measures in Kenya’s refugee camps.
Further information
Website: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
https://refugees.org/
Website: UNHCR Kenya: Where we work
https://www.unhcr.org/ke/where-we-work