The facts

Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya.

• 25 million out of a population of 34 million Kenyans are at risk of malaria.
• It accounts for 30-50% of all outpatient attendance and 20% of all admissions to health facilities.
• An estimated 170 million working days are lost to the disease each year (MOH 2001).
• Malaria is also estimated to cause 20% of all deaths in children under five (MOH 2006).
• The most vulnerable group to malaria infections are pregnant women and children under 5 years of age. 

« back

Towards a Malaria-free Kenya

Malaria tropica is a major reason that nearly 20 percent of all Kenyan babies do not live to see their fifth birthday.
There are times when it seems that everyone in Kenya is debilitated to some degree by malaria; many have had
it a dozen or more times. No surprise that the nation remains one of the poorest in the world:
A country's economic health has little chance of improving until its physical health is revitalized.

Therefore, Kenya's goal is to make the country malaria-free by 2017.

And there is good news: The past decade saw malaria prevalence drop from a high of 70 per cent to about
40 per cent today, which translates to less hospitalization and deaths among infants and pregnant women –
those most at risk from the disease.

But a lot still needs to be done since 10 million Kenyans who need them do not have access to bed nets and
the actual use of antimalarials on the ground is still less than 10 per cent.