More than half of Kiambu women are overweight and obese, according to data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
The statistics show that 55.6 per cent of women in the county aged between 20-49 years are obese and overweight. This is higher compared to men who are at 28%.
This might be attributed to the high consumption of sweet beverages by residents, which is at 85 per cent and eating unhealthy foods at 52 per cent.
The data was sampled from over 15,000 women aged and 13, 253 men.
Speaking during the release of the data in Thika town, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Director General Dr Macdonald Obudho said while Kiambu County was doing well in many other areas, obesity and overweight proved to be a challenge.
He called on the county government and other policy makers to use the data to come up with interventions to address the nutrition and health challenges of its population.
“From the data, Kiambu County is doing well in many other areas compared to most counties. However, it is struggling with nutrition and thus the need for policy makers to allocate enough resources to address the challenge,” said Dr Obudho.
From the data too, it was revealed that over 25 percent of children less than five years old are stunted, underweight or thin.
“15 percent of the children are stunted, 3% are thin and 7% are underweight,” the data revealed.
Kiambu County Director of Health Dr Hillary Kago while noting that malnutrition and obesity is a concern said the information released will enable the county government to come up with appropriate interventions.
To address obesity, he said they will be working with community health promoters to sensitize the public on healthy lifestyles.
“We shall have a lot of sensitization messages targeting the women on the need to keep a healthy lifestyle especially on the need for doing exercises, avoiding the consumption of sweet drinks and eating healthy,” said Dr Kigo.
On stunted growth, underweight and thinness among children, Dr Kigo said they have a working school feeding programme in all the Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE) Centres in the county.
By Muoki Charles
