• Past household surveys show NCDs cause a greater decrease in household income (28.6 per cent) and a higher rate of catastrophic expenditures than communicable diseases.
• Poor people and those in rural areas are most affected by catastrophic spending when they fall sick.
Image: COURTESY
They are the most expensive diseases to manage, driving thousands of Kenyans below the poverty line every year.
However, non-communicable diseases receive only 11 per cent of Kenya’s total health expenditure.
In the financial year 2017-18, Kenya spent Sh50.6 billion on NCDs, which experts and advocates say is a drop in the ocean.
The country is experiencing an epidemiological transition in its disease burden from predominantly communicable diseases to a rapidly rising burden of NCDs.
“Approximately 39 per cent of deaths in the country were as a result of NCDs, up from 27 per cent in 2014,” says the newly-released Kenya National NCD Strategic Plan.
“It is projected that deaths from NCDs will increase by 55 per cent while those from injuries will increase by 25 per cent by 2030,” the report says.
Head of the NCD Alliance (Kenya) Zipporah Ali says most people living with NCDs cannot afford the drugs they need to keep alive.
“Most people with NCDs cannot access essential medicines, so a strategy is just one thing. We also need to look at control of food because many cannot afford special diets,” she said.
Past household surveys show NCDs cause a greater decrease in household income (28.6 per cent) and a higher rate of catastrophic expenditures than communicable diseases.
Poor people and those in rural areas are most affected by catastrophic spending when they fall sick.
The commonest NCDs in Kenya include cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, mental health conditions and injuries
“These NCDs have a crippling economic impact. Acting against NCDs is both a moral and economic imperative,” said Health CS Mutahi Kagwe.
Last week, during the launch of the strategy, the ministry called for more resources to increase the response to Sh377 billion over five years.
Dr Gladwell Gathecha from the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases said the major risk factors include tobacco use, consumption of unhealthy diets, insufficient physical activity and harmful use of alcohol.
She noted that 19 per cent of all Kenyans are now either obese or overweight.
"The prevalence is higher among women than men at a rate of 17.5 per cent for men and 38.5 per cent for women being overweight and 4.7 per cent of men and 13.7 per cent of women being obese,” she said during the report launch in Nairobi.
At least 13 per cent of Kenyans also smoke tobacco, a habit linked to a chain of NCDs. Current alcohol drinkers comprise 19 per cent of the population, while 6.5 per cent of Kenyans do not exercise at all.
The strategy places emphasis on prevention and control measures, as well as strengthening health systems.
Edited by Henry Makori