It’s no longer malaria at the top of the list, the almost silent killer, pneumonia is now the leading cause of child sickness and mortality in Kenya.
The shocking revelation came after a report by the Ministry of Health showed that pneumonia accounts for 16% of the deaths among children under the age of five.
The death of children under five has over the years dropped from 114 to 52 deaths per 1,000 live births. The neonatal mortality rate has decreased at a slower rate and currently stands at 22 deaths per 1,000 live births.
“While the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014 shows that both infant mortality and under five mortality have steadily decreased, there has only been minimal improvement of other key indicators for child health, including the percentage of children fully vaccinated ( 77 per cent) and stunting at 26 per cent,” reads the report.
Since 2012, Malaria was the leading cause of child mortality. However in 2015, this changed and pneumonia topped the list followed by malaria, HIV and tuberculosis.
The same trend was recorded in 2016, with pneumonia leading with 11% malaria and cancer at 8%, HIV at 5% anaemia with 4% and heart disease at 3%. Other leading causes last year were asphyxia/trauma ( 13%), diarrhoea and prematurity ( 11%), sepsis (8%), injuries (7%), HIV (4%) and other non-communicable diseases ( 26%).
While a lot of noise is made and campaigns done to raise awareness on malaria, very little is said or done to prevent pneumonia. The anti-malaria campaigns seemed to have worked as it is reported that the malaria rates reduced by 4%. The Ministry of Health now says that systems have been put in place to prevent pneumonia and other diseases that have contributed to the death of many children.
“Kenya has put in place systems that support the delivery of evidence-based, high-impact interventions, including antibiotic treatment for pneumonia, combined uptake of ORS and Zinc for management of diarrhoea, and immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases, including pneumonia and measles,” the report says.
Kenya was among the first African countries to introduce PCV, and the first low-income country to use the 10-valent vaccine. Today, newborns receive the vaccine in three doses at Six, 10 and 14 weeks.
The ministry says optimal realisation of child health is hampered by variations in coverage, equity and quality of care across the country.
Do you think the government is doing enough to raise awareness on pneumonia?