Fewer Kenyans died in 2020 – survey
Zeituni Ahmed, a pharmaceutical technologist at Faza Sub-County Hospital in Lamu East, waits for patients on August 10. Hospital visits declined significantly in 2020.
Contrary to popular perception on the streets, new data has revealed that fewer Kenyans died in 2020 when Covid-19 hit the country as compared to 2019 when there was no pandemic.
The data captured in the Economic Survey 2021 shows that the number of registered deaths in 2020 was the lowest in five years.
The survey notes that in 2020, 184,185 deaths were registered compared to 191,495 in 2019, with more than half (53.4 percent) of the reported deaths occurring in health facilities.
In 2020, male deaths accounted for 56.6 per cent of total with sex ratio recorded at 130 male deaths to 100 female.
The report, however, did not give a breakdown on the causes of the deaths.
On the flipside, the number of registered births decreased from 1.19 million in 2019 to 1.14 million in 2020.
The report notes that the proportion of births reported to have occurred in health facilities increased to 97.7 per cent in 2020 from 95.6 per cent in 2019.
The sex ratio at birth in 2020 was 104 males for every 100 females, based on registered births.
But just what were the deadliest diseases of 2020?
Respiratory system
Diseases of the respiratory system remained the deadliest in the pandemic year. The report says 16.5 million cases of the disease were reported in health facilities across the country during the period. This is, however, a drop from the 21.9 million cases reported in 2019 as more Kenyans kept off from health facilities.
Malaria and diseases of the skin, including ulcers, came second and third in the order of the most reported diseases at health facilities. In 2020, there were 11.4 million malaria cases reported, down from 13 million in the previous year.
On the other hand, there were 4.2 million diseases of the skin reported in the year.
There were 2.6 million diarrhoea cases, 2.4 million urinary tract infections and 1.5 million cases of pneumonia.
There were over a million cases of rheumatism and joint pains related diseases and 1.1 million cases of intestinal worms.
Road accidents had 247,252 cases treated in hospitals, down from 480,993 in the previous year. All the other diseases added up to 16.1 million cases last year. The list does not have specifics on the Covid-19 disease.
It also does not give a breakdown of which of these infections ended up fatal and which ones recovered and went back home.
The report also reveals the extent at which Kenyans kept away from hospitals in the pandemic year.
Cases of diseases reported in health facilities decreased by 31.6 per cent to 60 million in 2020.
Malaria
“Diseases of the respiratory system and malaria accounted for 27.6 per cent and 19.1 per cent of the total caseload respectively. These two diseases have continued to present the leading outpatient disease caseloads over the years,” the report notes.
Since the confirmation of the first case of Covid-19 in the country, the number of infections and deaths continued to rise, with 96,612 confirmed positive cases as at December 31, 2020.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 related deaths in the same period was 1,756. The first spike was experienced in July with 14,594 confirmed positive cases and 317 deaths.
November witnessed the highest number of confirmed positive cases and deaths at 28,296 and 388, respectively.
The number of confirmed cases and deaths due to Covid-19 were much lower compared to other African countries during the year under review.
“South Africa recorded 1.1 confirmed positive cases and 28,469 deaths while Morocco recorded 439,193 confirmed positive cases and 7,388 deaths during the same period,” says the report.
