Health Survey reveals improvement in health indicators in Kericho County

Kericho,

Thursday, November 30, 2023

KNA by James Kipees

Kenya Demographic and Health Survey for Kericho County disseminated by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics released data indicating an improvement in many of the health indicators in the County.

Kericho County Statistics Officer Mr. Yusuf Shanko who presented the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey for Kericho County urged stakeholders to utilize the findings of the survey to improve service delivery to the people and to implement the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

The report indicated positive health indicators in Kericho such as 91 percent of women delivered in a health facility with only 9.1 percent of women reported to have delivered from home.

Shanko mentioned that there had been an improvement in the mortality rate since 2003. Under 5 children mortality for example, had 41 deaths per 1,000 births in 2003 and in 2022, there were 31 deaths per 1,000 births.

The survey further revealed an increase in women involved in decision making, a decline in incidences of violence against women, presence of teenage pregnancies and decline in prevalence of no-communicable diseases,” explained Shanko.

According to the report, he revealed that 7 percent of men and 2 percent of women suffered from depression while men and women suffered equally from high blood pressure at 2 percent, saying the percentage could increase due to low health seeking behaviour.

On Gender-Based Violence, Shanko disclosed that 20 percent of women in Kericho reported having experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence while 43 percent never sought help after experiencing violence and only 12 percent sought help after experiencing violence.

The objective of the County level dissemination of the survey findings is to provide the stakeholders with up-to-date estimates of demographic and health indicators to guide in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of population and health related programs at the county levels. 

Shanko said the survey analysed several indicators which include maternal and newborn health, family planning, fertility, infant and child mortality, nutrition of children and adults, household water and sanitation, gender-based violence, Female Genital Mutilation and women’s empowerment. 

“Key findings in the survey in which 900 households participated included improvement in maternal health indicators, improved mortality rate, reduction in chronic malnutrition, a decline in fertility rate, increased use of modern family planning methods, decrease in women giving birth out of a health facility.

The data dissemination meeting which brought together economists, statisticians, financial experts, health officials, civil society and other stakeholders underscored the need for integrating the KDHS factsheet in any decision-making process.   

Other stakeholders who graced the event included Kericho County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning Mr. Leonard Ngetich and Chief Officer for Economic Planning Mr. Alphonce Rotich.

Courtesy; KNA