Health and Illness
Kenya Coast Portal
Section:
Reviews
Category:
Health & Nutrition
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Number of pages:
20
Year of publication:
2000
Print title:
Boerma J.T. & Bennett F.J. (2000). Health and Illness. In Hoorweg J., Foeken D. & Obudho R. eds. Kenya Coast Handbook: Culture, resources and development in the East African littoral. (pp.261-277). Hamburg: LIT Verlag.
For reference purposes, cite the following link:
https://www.ascleiden.nl/kenya-coast/reviews/boerma-bennett/health-and-illness
Summary/abstract:
Health and illness are decided by underlying factors such as the existing health infrastructure, fertility and family planning, maternal and child care practices, and nutritional conditions. The availability of hospital beds in coastal Kenya is below the national average; the distance to health services, including antenatal care and vaccination facilities, are generally satisfactory but pose difficulties for a minority of the population.
Traditional medicine has a high rate of utilisation and nowadays incorporates African ethnic beliefs, Muslim elements and modern biomedical concepts. Knowledge of modern birth control methods is high but user rates are generally low and there are no indications of a decline in fertility. The utilisation of antenatal care is high but two-thirds of the women deliver at home. Childbirth complications are strongly associated with non-natural causes such as adultery and witchcraft. Vaccination coverage of children is high. Low birth weights are common and surveys in the past decades have shown that anthropometry of under-fives is below that of children elsewhere in Kenya.
Altogether, children in coastal Kenya have higher risks of mortality than Kenyan children, on average. Since the 1950s, until very recently, Coast Province has shown little decline in child mortality. Still, life expectancy is close to the national figure and life expectancy at birth is now slightly over 50 years. The overall pattern of morbidity is dominated by communicable diseases notably respiratory infections, diarrhoea, intestinal parasites, malaria, schistosomiasis, anaemia, filariasis, STD and hepatitus.