In 2022, the Kenya Ministry of Health launched its Primary Health Care network guidelines, to support counties in strengthening primary health care service delivery. We asked some of our advocacy partners to explain why primary health care is a priority in Kenya.
Kenya is one of six countries to include co-packaged ORS and zinc in its List of Essential Medicines for Children. But community awareness of this cornerstone diarrhea treatment remains low. Kenya has prioritized availability of ORS and zinc in clinics throughout the country.
Proven tools can defeat diarrhea: vaccines; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); nutrition; exclusive breastfeeding; and oral rehydration solution and zinc. Use our report to advocate for funding and uptake.
Currently, only 42 percent of infants 4-5 months old are exclusively breastfed in Kenya. The national strategy aims for 50% coverage of exclusive breastfeeding by 2025.
Kenya’s national strategy aims to transform environments to support adolescent health. Ensuring girls have access to sanitation, for example, not only improves community health but also provides girls with educational and economic opportunity.
In Kenya, 26 percent of children are chronically malnourished. Diarrhea is more prevalent and dangerous when children’s nutritional needs are not met.
Deaths among children under five have declined in Kenya. But 1 in 19 children will not reach their 5th birthday. Pneumonia and diarrhea are top threats; learn how the national strategy will address these and other resilient risks to children.
According to the Kenya Newborn and Child Health Strategic Plan, deaths among children under five declined from 110,000 in 1990 to 69,000 in 2017. Scale-up of “high impact interventions,” like ORS and zinc, is among the reasons cited for this progress. Dive deeper into the data and learn how Kenya and other countries are tracking toward global goals in the Countdown to 2030.
Gender inequity poses several barriers to childhood immunization rates, including low levels of literacy (and thus low awareness of the benefits of vaccination) and limited financial power and independence for healthcare spending.
From droughts to flooding, journalist Sushmita Malaviya explores adaptation options for India, emphasizing multi-pronged government programming and community education about water conservation.