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Kenya: Kenya Health Profile

2015/10/04

 Kenyatta National Hospital-globserver

HEALTH & DEVELOPMENT

The economy grew steadily from 5.8 in 2002 to 7.0 in 2007, but declined to 4.5 in 2008 due to election-related political turbulence and the world economic crisis. Evolution towards Kenya’s attainment of the MDGs is slow and uncertain, with only education registering significant evolution. Poor infrastructure, weak institutions and poor regulatory enforcement are key development challenges. Kenya Vision 2030 is the development blueprint by which the country aims to transform into a middle-gain country, through maintaining a stable macroeconomic environment supported by real time structural reforms.

Health status and indicators: Key health impact indicators suggest stagnation or decline in the health status. The rate of under-5 mortality has stagnated between 93 in 1993 and the current 92 per 1,000 live births. Maternal mortality ratio has worsened from 365 in 1994 to 414 in 2003, and maternal death is the leading cause of death in women of child bearing age (15%).

This stagnation is attributable to the high disease burden due to existing, and new conditions, and an inadequate response to manage the disease burden. The health impact indicators as well suggest wide disparities in health across the country, closely linked to underlying socio-economic, gender and geographical disparities. Low immunization coverage and cross-border social disturbances in the recent completed have as well seen the recurrence of measles and polio, conditions that had in the completed been brought under control.


The burden of communicable diseases is high, with malaria as the leading cause of morbidity (30%)2 followed by respiratory diseases (24.5%)3. Recently, positive gains are emerging in malaria and HIV control, owing to availability of resources and improved coordination for scale-up of targeted interventions, and these need to be intensified to reach universal targets. Malaria prevalence is 14% and ITN coverage in pregnant women and children <5years is 40% and 39% respectively. HIV prevalence is 7.4%, the rate being higher in women (8.5%) compared to men (5.6%). The large majority (83%) of those infected do not know their HIV status, and only 35% of those in need of ART are accessing treatment4. TB control has been additional challenging, with a high TB prevalence of 319 per 100,000, TB/HIV co-infection of 53% and a growing threat of MDR/XDRTB5.


The noncommunicable disease burden is as well on the rise with diabetes prevalence at 3.3%, a 3-fold increase over the last 10 years. Mental illnesses and road traffic injuries are on the increase, and 13% of school-age children aged 13-15 years are active cigarette smokers. Persistent poverty and low water and sanitation coverage have contributed to sanitation related illnesses like cholera. There are as well pockets of neglected tropical diseases such as lymphatic filariasis.

Health system status and challenges: The sector has defined the Kenya Essential Package for Health (KEPH) based on a life cycle approach to delivery of a comprehensive healthcare package across 6 levels of care. Government is the major provider of health services, but the private for-profit and the privatenot-for-profit providers as well serve a significant proportion of the people. Roll-out of KEPH is hampered by inadequate quantities and qualities of resources (human, infrastructure, financial), and still evolving institutional capacity to manage the available resources.

OPPORTUNITIES

CHALLENGES
• High burden of communicable diseases and a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases
• Weak health systems; distribution inequalities and disparities; low health services utilization
• Inadequate health infrastructure, human resources and other health care inputs
• Inadequate platforms for procurement, financial and data management to support health services
decentralization
• Lack of comprehensive approach to intervention in some key areas

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