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Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015

KEY FACTS Joined Commonwealth: 1963 Population: 44,354,000 (2013) GDP p.c. growth: 0.6% p.a. 1990–2013 GNI p.c.: US$930 (2013) UN HDI 2014: World ranking 147 Life expectancy: 62 years (2013) Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 71 (2013) Largest contribution to mortality: HIV/AIDS Government health expenditure: 1.8% of GDP (2012) General information Kenya lies astride the equator, extending from the Indian Ocean in the east to Uganda in the west, and from the United Republic of Tanzania in the south to Ethiopia and South Sudan in the north. On the east and north-east it borders Somalia. The country is divided into eight provinces (Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi, North- Eastern, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Western). Climate: The coastal areas are tropical, with monsoon winds. The lowlands are hot and mainly dry. The highlands are much cooler and have four seasons. Nairobi, 1,700 metres above sea level, has a 190 Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015 mean temperature that ranges from a minimum of 13°C to a maximum of 25°C; Mombasa, on the coast, from a minimum of 23°C to a maximum of 29°C. Rainfall varies from a mean annual 150 mm at Lodwar in the north-west to 1,470 mm at Kisumu, near Lake Victoria in the west. Northern parts of the country were hit by severe floods in the latter part of 2007. Environment: The most significant issues are water pollution from urban and industrial wastes; degradation of water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilisers; water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; and poaching. Population: 44,354,000 (2013); 25 per cent of people live in urban areas and nine per cent in urban agglomerations of more than a million people. The population growth rate stood at 2.8 per cent p.a. between the years of 1990 and 2013. In 2012 the birth rate was 35 per 1,000 people (51 in 1970) and life expectancy was 62 years (52 in 1970 and 60 in 1990). Economy: Kenya is classified as a low-income economy by the World Bank. Health Child and maternal health: The rate of infant mortality in Kenya was 48 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013, with an under-five mortality rate of 71 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012. Following a gradual increase in the 1990s, and since peaking in 1997, the under-five mortality rate in Kenya has been decreasing. Although this decrease is encouraging, the under-five mortality rate is still a long way off the country’s target of 33 deaths per 1,000 live births, as defined by Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4). In 2010 the three most prominent causes of death for children below the age of five years were acute respiratory infections (18 per cent), intrapartum-related complications (14 per cent) and prematurity (13 per cent). Other contributory causes were diarrhoea (ten per cent), neonatal sepsis (seven per cent), injuries (seven per cent), congenital anomalies (six per cent), malaria (four per cent) and HIV/AIDS (four per cent). In 2013 Kenya had an adjusted maternal mortality ratio of 400 deaths per 100,000 live births (this figure was estimated at 360 deaths per 100,000 by UN agencies/World Bank in 2010). Burden of disease: Communicable diseases along with maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions in Kenya accounted for an estimated 63 per cent of all mortality in 2012. The prevalence of HIV in Kenya, as a percentage of people aged 15–49 years, was six per cent in 2012. In the period 1990–2013 the prevalence of HIV rose overall and it is now approximately twice that of 1990, although it has been falling since a peak in the mid-1990s. Between 2002 and 2011 the number of confirmed cases of malaria rose significantly, whereas confirmed deaths from the disease fell in the same period, with the most dramatic decline occurring since Kenya


Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015
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