The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey report released recently has revealed worrying trends in the health of young children in Nakuru County, despite the county being identified as an agriculturally rich county.
Among other highlights, the survey shows that nineteen out of every 100 children in Nakuru are stunted, while three out of every 100 children of the same age are wasted. The report established that 9 out of 100 children aged under five years in the devolved unit were underweight, while 4 out of 100 in a similar age bracket were obese.
The findings underline the challenge of inadequate access to a healthy and balanced diet facing many households.
Being overweight or obese is linked to an increased risk of non-communicable diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers.
Stunting is defined as low height-for-age and is measured by comparing the height of a child against the international benchmark for a child of the same age.
It is caused by a poor diet in a child’s first 1,000 days of life and has severe, irreversible consequences for physical health and cognitive functioning, experts say.
According to experts, the first few years of life, from conception onward, are critical for brain development.
The KNBS report shows stunting reduces with increasing wealth. It also says the malaise has decreased nationally, from 40 per cent in 1993 to 18 per cent.
The report says 22 per cent of children born to mothers with no education are stunted, as compared with nine per cent of children born to mothers with post-secondary education.
According to the survey, seventeen per cent of girls in Nakuru aged between 15 and 19 have ever been pregnant. The figure is higher than the national average, which indicates that 15 per cent teenage girls have ever been pregnant.
This was described yesterday as worrying, with statistics showing the number of sexually active unmarried women aged 15-49 years, about 70 per cent, were using contraceptives, and 59 per cent of them were on modern methods.
County Executive Committee Member for Health, Ms. Roselyn Mungai, said the survey had provided critical data for planning, policy formulation, and monitoring and evaluation of projects.
She acknowledged that some of the numbers were worrying but critical for putting in place programmes that will address the challenges and reverse the trends.
Ms. Mungai noted that the report presented new indicators not collected in previous KDHS surveys, such as early childhood development, health expenditures, and information on chronic diseases.
“It will provide us with indicators relevant for monitoring national and sub-national development agendas such as the Kenya Vision 2030, Medium Term Plans (MTPs), and County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs),” the CECM noted.
Ms. Mungai stated that the report will act as a tool to assist the County Government in assessing the effectiveness of investments and guiding resource allocation going forward.
“Understanding the local health landscape empowers our health care providers to implement targeted strategies that resonate with the specific needs of Nakuru residents,” the CEC noted.
The 7th countrywide demographic and health survey conducted in Kenya was conducted between February 17 to July 13 among females aged 15 to 49 and males aged 15 to 54 years.
“Statistics indicate that teenage pregnancy among girls aged 15- 19 in Nakuru decreases with an increase in education levels,” explained the County Statistical Officer, Mr. Franklin Mwamba.
Kenya has the third highest teen pregnancies globally, where one in every five adolescents aged 15-19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child.
In the survey, it emerged that the percentage of women aged 15–19 who have been pregnant increases with age, from three per cent among those aged 15 to 31 per cent among 19-year-olds.
It also indicated that about four in 10 women, aged 15–19, who have no education, have been pregnant, compared with only 5 per cent of women with secondary education.
The teenage pregnancy and motherhood rates in Kenya stand at 18 per cent, implying that about one in every five teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 has either had a live birth or is pregnant with their first child.
Mr. Mwamba further said that the fertility level trends in Nakuru were declining, recording an average of 3.4 children per woman in 2022 from 3.9 children per woman in 2014, when the last KDHS was done.
“About half (47 per cent) of currently married women aged 15–49 want to have another child soon or later; 17 per cent want to have another child soon, and 30 per cent want to wait at least two years,” the survey indicates.
Further, the survey shows that more than four in 10 currently married women want to limit childbearing.
Eight per cent of married women in Nakuru aged between 15 to 49 have unmet family planning needs.
According to the report, 80 per cent are currently using family planning.
The report further reveals that nearly all women and men (99 per cent each) have knowledge of modern contraceptive methods.
A lower percentage of women and men have knowledge of traditional methods, with 85 per cent of women and 86 per cent of men knowing a traditional method.
The primary objective of the 2022 KDHS was to provide up-to-date estimates of socioeconomic, demographic, health, and nutrition indicators.
This would then guide the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of population, health, and nutrition programmes at national and county levels.
The survey established that 73 per cent of the population in Nakuru has access to at least basic drinking water services, while 43 per cent of the population has access to at least basic sanitation services.
The report recognises that Nakuru has made major strides in the expansion of water-related infrastructure due to state and private investment in the provision of water to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Household access to and use of safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene have profound implications on the health, safety, menstrual hygiene, and overall well-being of the population.
According to KDHS, improved sources of drinking water include piped water, public taps, standpipes, tube wells, boreholes, protected dug wells and springs, rainwater, water delivered via tanker truck or a cart with a small tank, and bottled water.
Households that use unimproved sources of drinking water were found to be at a higher risk of waterborne diseases and contamination.
Twenty per cent of the county’s residents rely on clean fuels and technologies for cooking, space heating, and lighting.
There is a pattern between wealth status and primary reliance on clean fuels and technologies.
The percentage of the population relying on clean fuels and technologies for cooking, space heating, and lighting increases with the wealth quintile.
A drastic drop in illiteracy levels was recorded in Nakuru, as the percentage of both men and women without formal education stood at 1 per cent.
The demographic and health survey aims to provide up-to-date information on socio-economic, demographic, nutrition, and health indicators.
This is for the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of various health programmes and policies.
The report also provides indicators to monitor and evaluate Kenya’s achievements towards Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals and the aspirations of the Africa Agenda 2063.
The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2022 KDHS) was implemented by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders.
Funding for the survey was provided by the Government of Kenya, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nutrition International, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).
Other partners included the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
It was also done through a questionnaire, where they used the household questionnaire, the woman’s questionnaire, the man’s questionnaire, and the biomarker questionnaire.
The sample for the 2022 KDHS report was drawn from the Kenya Household Master Sample Frame (K-HMSF).
The sample size was computed at 42,300 households, with 25 households selected per cluster, which resulted in 1,692 clusters spread across the country, 1,026 clusters in rural areas, and 666 in urban areas.
The 2022 KDHS is the 7th Demographic and Health Survey conducted in Kenya since 1989.
By Jane Ngugi
