Disaster Risk Reduction in Conflict Zones: Gaps in Mental Health Interventions and Drugs Addictions in the Fight Against Violent Extremism in Lamu County, Kenya

In 2015, Al Shabaab (Ḥarakat al-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn), based in Somalia, launched attacks in Mpeketoni and Pandanguo in Lamu County along the Kenya–Somalia border, which claimed the lives of over 50 people. In response, the government of Kenya deployed a Multi-Agency Task Force comprising the Kenya Defense Forces, National Intelligence Service, Kenya Police Service, Kenya Forestry Service, and Kenya Wildlife Service to flash out the militants in an operation named Operation Amani Boni. The International Peace Support Training Centre conducted a study in the county, which pointed out several initiatives toward cushioning the locals from the effects of the security operation in the conflict theatre that included nutrition and health care. The study, however, observed that the key issues of mental health largely remained unattended. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the situation as there was a cutback in funding on already-strained budgets for both state and nonstate institutions. This fueled drug addiction and further triggered violence beyond the active conflict theatre as they affected households. The volatile security situation, therefore, denies the locals much-needed rehabilitation services. This chapter, therefore, provides recommendations that are based on existing health care and social welfare systems to provide mental health services.