Aid Drops Bring Vital Supplies to Flood-Hit Kenya

Aid drops have begun across flood-hit Kenya where nearly two million people are facing serious health threats including cholera and malaria.

A US-African combined task force has dropped 240 tonnes of supplies in the form of relief aid packages from the air in eastern parts of the country.

Around 700,000 people in the region, including Somali refugees, are thought to be in need of the supplies, reports ITN.

And as many as 1.8 million people are at risk from killer diseases such as cholera, measles and malaria.

David Okello, the World Health Organisation's representative in Kenya, said: "People are dying from diseases related to the water and sanitation situation. Malaria will become a very serious problem in the weeks to come."

Gordon Denoon, of the charity Care International, said: "We have taken these measures to try and bring in supplies through an airdrop.

"It's a very extraordinary thing to do and we been forced to do it because the road to Garrissa has been cut by the flooding and the road is still flooded so it will be some time before we can get any heavy trucks through."

The US military announced it would commence an airlifting effort at the weekend, which would bring vital relief aid to more than 100,000 Somali refugees left homeless by the massive floods that have overwhelmed UN camps on north-eastern parts of the country.

Deliveries include "critically needed" non-food supplies, the UN agency UNHCR said, such as mosquito nets, blankets and plastic sheeting.