Covid year had the lowest deaths since 2015— survey

Registered deaths in 2020 are the lowest in the last five year, despite ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Economic Survey 2021, released on Thursday, a total 184,185 deaths were registered last year, the lowest since 2015.

The report suggests there were not widespread deaths caused by undiagnosed Covid-19 as previously feared.

“Overall, the numbers of registered male deaths were more compared to those of females,” the report says.

“During the year under review, the highest number of registered male deaths was recorded within the 55-74 age category at 26,434 deaths while the highest number of registered female deaths was recorded among females aged 75 years and above at 21,786 deaths,” the report adds.

The statistics show in 2019, about 191,495 people died while 192,019 died in 2018.

In 2017, the report says 190,877 deaths were recorded, compared to 189,930 deaths in 2016.

Overall, the number of casualties in the country has had small variations since 2015, when a peak of 200,200 deaths was recorded.

However, the Economic Survey noted in Kenya only about 36 per cent of deaths were probably captured last year.

This means the total number of people who died last year could have been 500,808.

“Death registration coverage rate declined from 39.1 per cent in 2019 to 36.8 per cent in 2020,” it says.

In 2019, approximately 39 per cent of deaths were captured. This means about 489,492 people may have died in 2019.

“Kenya has been recording low death registration over the years. This may be attributed to the fact that most deaths occur in the community and subsequent registration for these events tends to be low, having an impact on the overall registration of events,” the report says.

Other aspects of the report note improvements in adolescent health.

For instance, some 332,208 pregnant adolescents aged between 10 to 19 years presented for their first ante-natal clinic visit in 2020, representing a 16.3 per cent decline.

This is the lowest number recorded in the last three years with 396,929 cases having been recorded in 2019, 427,297 in 2018 and 339,676 in 2017.

The report shows that majority of cases were among adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years at 94.7 per cent.

According to the survey, the total number of cases of diseases reported in health facilities decreased by 31.6 per cent to 60 million in 2020.

“Diseases of the respiratory system and malaria accounted for 27.6 per cent and 19.1 per cent of the total disease caseload, respectively. These two diseases have continued to present the leading outpatient disease caseloads over the years,” the survey states.

Diseases of the skin accounted for 7.1 per cent while diarrhoea diseases, urinary tract infections and pneumonia accounted for 4.4 per cent, 4.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

In terms of admissions among infants, the survey found that the numbers declined significantly from 64,774 in 2019 to 37,470 in 2020.

This can be attributed to the interventions put in place by the government to reduce both neonatal and infant mortality rates in the country.

“Low birth weight, was the leading cause of infant admissions at 10.3 per cent. Birth asphyxia and birth trauma followed closely accounting for 10.1 per cent while pneumonia was third at 8.8 per cent in 2020,” the report says.

Other factors causing infant admissions include bacterial sepsis, malaria, respiratory distress, neonatal aspiration and neonatal jaundice.

However, admissions recorded among children aged below the age of five years in the health facilities increased by 2.7 per cent to 117,441 in 2020, with pneumonia accounting for the highest number of admissions at 12.9 per cent followed by malaria at 10 per cent.

Bacterial sepsis, birth asphyxia and birth trauma led to 7.8 per cent and 4.9 per cent of the admissions respectively.

-Edited by SKanyara