More children born in Kenya are surviving today than ever before, as deaths before the fifth birthday have reached a historic low, a new report shows.
This would mean, despite the harsh economic times, this is arguably the safest time to raise children in Kenya since Independence.
An analysis by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) shows that under-five deaths have been dropping by about 2.8 per cent every year.
For instance, the data shows that in 1993, the under-five mortality rate for Kenya was 101 per 1,000 live births. This dropped to 96 deaths in 2000 then to 41 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022.
“Behind these numbers lie the stories of midwives and skilled health personnel helping mothers safely deliver their newborns, health workers vaccinating and protecting children against deadly diseases, and community health workers, who make home visits to support families to ensure the right health and nutrition support for children,” Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said.
She commented on the global trend, which shows a considerable decline.
“Through decades of commitment by individuals, communities, and nations to reach children with low-cost, quality and effective health services, we’ve shown that we have the knowledge and tools to save lives.”
The global estimates are contained in the report titled, Levels & Trends in Child Mortality.
The Kenyan estimates are largely drawn from the 2022 Demographic and Health Survey, among other sources.
The progress is attributed to investments in maternal and child healthcare. Donors have also played a major role. For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has relentlessly promoted access to childhood vaccinations in Kenya and other developing countries.
Children now access vaccines to beat respiratory infections, which, according to the 2022 KDHS, are still the leading cause of death among children in Kenya.
In 2011, Kenya became one of the first countries in Africa to add pneumonia vaccines to their national childhood immunisation schedule. Today, the vaccine is well-established, with official WHO and Unicef data putting coverage in the country at 91 per cent.
Last year, acting Director General for Health Patrick Amoth said, "Immunisation against the two common bacteria which cause pneumonia, streptococcus pneumoniae and haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) has been shown to result in 22-35 per cent reduction in the incidence of pneumonia and four per cent reduction in all child deaths."
In 2008, before the vaccines were introduced, about 30,000 died of pneumonia, according to the ministry.
Currently, pneumonia causes between 8,000 to 10,000 annual childhood deaths in Kenya, representing about one in five of all child deaths, the ministry said last year during World Pneumonia Day on November 12.
Malaria is ranked the second leading cause of death among children under five, followed by diarrhoeal diseases.
Currently, there are vaccines – RTSS for malaria and rotavirus for diarrhoea – to fight these two diseases.
According to the UN IGME report, the number of children who die before their fifth birthday has reached a historic low globally, dropping to 4.9 million in 2022.
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by 51 per cent since 2000.
Several low- and lower-middle-income countries have outpaced this decline, showing that progress is possible when resources are sufficiently allocated to primary healthcare, including child health and well-being.
For example, the findings show that Cambodia, Malawi, Mongolia and Rwanda have reduced under-five mortality by more than 75 per cent since 2000.
But the findings also show that despite this progress, there is still a long road ahead to end all preventable child and youth deaths.
In addition to the 4.9 million lives lost before the age of five-nearly half of which were newborns-the lives of another 2.1 million children and youth aged 5-24 were also cut short.
Most of these deaths were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
This tragic loss of life is primarily due to preventable or treatable causes, such as preterm birth, complications around the time of birth, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, the report said.
It shows many lives could have been saved with better access to high-quality primary healthcare, including essential, low-cost interventions, such as vaccinations, availability of skilled health personnel at birth, support for early and continued breastfeeding, and diagnosis and treatment of childhood illnesses.
“While there has been welcome progress, every year millions of families still suffer the devastating heartbreak of losing a child, often in the very first days after birth,” said WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Where a child is born should not dictate whether they live or die. It is critical to improve access to quality health services for every woman and child, including during emergencies and in remote areas.”
Improving access to quality health services and saving children’s lives from preventable deaths requires investment in education, jobs and decent working conditions for health workers to deliver primary healthcare, including community health workers, the report said.
However, the report said at the current rates, 59 countries will miss the Sustainable Development Goal under-five mortality target and 64 countries will fall short of the newborn mortality goal.
That means an estimated 35 million children will die before reaching their fifth birthday by 2030-a death toll that will largely be borne by families in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia or in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
The proposed SDG target for child mortality aims to end by 2030, preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 deaths per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The report also notes large gaps in data, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, where the mortality burden is high.
It says data and statistical systems must be improved to better track and monitor child survival and health, including indicators on mortality and health via household surveys, birth and death registration through Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) and Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS).