Lifestyle diseases now threaten Kenya’s impressive achievements on healthcare

• Data from the Ministry of Health shows that non-communicable ailments such as cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, heart disease and kidney failure, neurological and psychiatric conditions have become the major cause of death.
• For example, reports indicate that 81,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed annually, resulting in about 18,000 deaths.
• Although cancer is incurable, medical evidence shows that 40 per cent of cancers are preventable. The newly developed policy on cancer may be a step in the right direction, but it will not be enough.

Kenya has made remarkable strides in healthcare in the last few decades, resulting in a rise in life expectancy from 54 years in 2008 to 58 years.

This means that a child born in Kenya today has a chance of living four years more than one born 10 years ago.

Infant mortality dropped from 56.01 to 43.61 between 2008 and 2012. HIV prevalence fell from 13 per cent in the 1990s to 6.3 per cent in 2012.

Major infectious disease outbreaks have also been brought under control except for malaria, typhoid fever, cholera and Rift Valley Fever.

These are positive achievements, but they may obscure the serious rising epidemic of lifestyle and non-communicable diseases.

Data from the Ministry of Health shows that non-communicable ailments such as cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, heart disease and kidney failure, neurological and psychiatric conditions have become the major cause of death.

For example, reports indicate that 81,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed annually, resulting in about 18,000 deaths.

Although cancer is incurable, medical evidence shows that 40 per cent of cancers are preventable. The newly developed policy on cancer may be a step in the right direction, but it will not be enough.

The factors that contribute to non-communicable disease are, in many cases, within the behavioural control of individuals.

For example, high salt intake is associated with hypertension while increased body weight is associated with poor diet. Inadequate physical activity leads to heart disease, while obesity can cause hypertension.

These health problems require a preventive approach instead of curative. Kenya’s healthcare system is designed largely to provide curative health services.

The explosion in non-communicable diseases is an indicator of a population undergoing what is referred to as epidemiological transition.

This phenomenon occurs in middle level economies that have managed to control infectious disease, reduce mortality rates, increase life expectancy and improve the general health of the people.

Consequently, the cause of death shifts from infectious diseases to long-term non-communicable diseases associated with the lifestyles of populations undergoing demographic transition.

Sedentary lifestyles and diets rich in saturated fats, which may be associated with urbanisation, compound the health problems during this transitions period.

The Non-Communicable Disease Alliance of Kenya warns that non-communicable and lifestyle diseases may be responsible for up to 60 per cent of all deaths by 2030.

This shift from infectious to non-infectious diseases requires both short-term and long-term planning on the part of health providers. There is an urgent need to emphasise on preventative medicine through public health approaches without compromising curative health.

A strategy for keeping Kenyans away from hospitals is needed to give preventative health a greater role in response to the rising cases of non-communicable diseases.