Photo courtesy of Borgen Magazine

In 1963, the year of Kenya’s independence from British colonial rule, Kenyans were dying of pneumonia, diarrhea, cholera, malaria and other tropical diseases. 60 years later and these diseases are still among the leading killers of Kenyans but with a few new ailments having been added to the Grim Reaper’s arsenal – diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease and depression. So says The Economic Survey 2023 compiled by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

The increase in the prevalence of illnesses that used to be more associated with northern hemisphere Western countries will, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), continue in the next few years to overtake more ‘traditional’ diseases as the leading causes of death in Kenya.

In Kenya, life expectancy has improved but…

It’s not all bad news on the health front in Kenya. Life expectancy in 1960 stood at an average of 43 years, now it’s nearer 67 years.

Longevity and lifestyle, however, have consequences. Older people are more likely to suffer from cancer than the younger generation. And with greater wealth comes higher levels of obesity which in turn leads to higher blood pressure, heart problems and diabetes.

The top four causes of death in Kenya are pneumonia, cancer, malaria and ‘sudden death.’

Age makes difference. Malaria, for example, is the major killer of teenagers followed by pneumonia and anaemia.

For neonatal, infant and children under-five, the leading cause of death were premature birth and birth asphyxia, respiratory infections and pneumonia.
Perhaps not surprisingly, birth complications are also a major cause of death in women.

Where you live makes a difference

Death rates and causes of death are also inked to the region where one lives. Data from the Kenya Poverty Report (also released from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics), shows that a fifth of Kenya’s poor live in five counties.

Of the 19.1 million people rated as being poor, 3.92 million live in Nakuru, Bungoma, Nairobi, Kakaamega and Kilifi counties.

Nakuru tops the counties with highest number of poor people, says the report, standing at 893,000, followed by Bungoma with 775,000, Nairobi 759,000, Kakemega 753,000 and Kilifi 746,000.

Although Nairobi contains the third highest number of poor people, the county has the lowest proportion of poor people to total population, standing at 14.8 percent.

Poverty in the report was defined as those people with a monthly expenditure of lower than Sh3,947 ($28) in rural areas and Sh7,193 ($51) in urban areas.