Prematurity & birth asphyxia and pneumonia leading causes of death in children - Report

Prematurity & birth asphyxia, and pneumonia are the leading causes of death for children under 5 years, according to the Report

In a Kenya Vital Statistics Report 2024 (KVSR) released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Prematurity and birth asphyxia were ranked as the leading causes of death among children under 5, while pneumonia came second in the rankings.

Prematurity refers to babies born before 37 weeks of gestation, while birth asphyxia is the failure to establish breathing at birth.

Both conditions are closely linked to the quality of maternal care, timely access to skilled birth attendants and the availability of neonatal intensive care units.

The report highlights that both male and female children are equally affected by these conditions, with little difference in the proportion of deaths between the sexes.

Prematurity and birth asphyxia have consistently ranked as the leading cause of death among children under five for the past five years. In 2024 alone, these conditions accounted for 4,112 deaths out of the total 20,156 under-five deaths registered in health facilities.

Pneumonia remains the second leading cause of death for children under five, responsible for 2,816 deaths in 2024.

This respiratory infection, often preventable and treatable, continues to claim young lives.

The burden of pneumonia is felt across both urban and rural settings, with the disease ranking consistently high among the causes of child mortality for both boys and girls.

The report emphasises that pneumonia, together with prematurity and birth asphyxia, accounts for more than one-third of all under-five deaths in health facilities.

Other notable causes include respiratory infections, neonatal conditions, sepsis, gastroenteritis, anaemia, and malaria, but none approach the scale of the top two

According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Kenya's under-five mortality rate stands at 41 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is far from the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 25 per 1,000 by 2030.

The report’s findings are a wake-up call for stakeholders to accelerate efforts in combating preventable childhood deaths.