Poverty holds back growth plan

• Though absolute poor declined to 46 per cent, more resources are needed to boost health

Poverty eradication remains the country’s biggest challenge in meeting the millennium development goals by the 2015 deadline, the latest UN assessment report says.

The United Nations Development Programme report says the poverty level had only declined by 10 per cent in the past decade.

The major decline was recorded between 2000 and 2006, when the poverty rate fell from 56 per cent to 46. Since then, no marked change has been recorded, despite the high population increase.

“Poverty is still at 2006 levels. While a significant amount of money and resources is required for basic social services, such as schools, hospitals and roads, a similar increase in capital expenditure is not being made,” the report entitled Road to 2015: driving the MDGs says.

The document, however, praises the government for introducing free primary education, stating the enrolment rates in primary schools had increased significantly, reaching 86.5 per cent in 2006.

Despite the achievement, the recently launched 2009 census report showed the government still had a challenge in increasing access.

According to the census, six million Kenyans are not in school.

Of the grand total, 3.9 million are children of school-going age and 2.1 million are adults who have never sat in a classroom. The government has promised to increase access to 100 per cent by 2015.

The UNDP report praises the government for increasing immunisation coverage for infants and children to over 80 per cent, adding that public health centres and drugs accessibility had also improved.

“About 68 per cent of children under-five years old are receiving bed nets to protect them against mosquitoes (which cause malaria),” it adds.

On maternal health, the report says “ring-fencing” or the strict adherence to agreed budgetary allocations to the health sector, had helped improve maternal health.

“The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel increased from 42 per cent in 2003 to 56 per cent by 2007,” it says.

Though the government had made efforts in reducing HIV/Aids prevalence rates in the past decade, the report says women still bore the heaviest brunt of the disease.

Citing 2007 studies, the document says females still have a higher prevalence of 6.7 per cent compared to 3.5 per cent for males.