Malnutrition: Kenya’s silent killer

A vegetable platter. The country’s levels of malnutrition are rising, not falling, driven by the near absence of fruit and vegetables in many Kenyan diets. PHOTO | FILE 

By SILVIA MWENDIA

In Summary

• The result is micronutrient deficiencies that are stunting growth and intelligence, suppressing immune systems, and causing multiple diseases and deaths.
• The country’s levels of malnutrition are rising, not falling, driven by the near absence of fruit and vegetables in many Kenyan diets.
• Specifically, the emphasis on staple foods, such as Ugali, with almost zero nutritional content, and the heavy loading of sugar into drinks, is making for a disease cocktail.

Malnutrition isn’t always caused by starvation. The reality is that up to 90 per cent of Kenyans are suffering from some form of malnutrition - because they are eating the wrong foods.

 

The result is micronutrient deficiencies that are stunting growth and intelligence, suppressing immune systems, and causing multiple diseases and deaths.

In fact, micronutrient deficiency is Kenya’s biggest killer, at levels that are way higher than most other developing nations: because the Kenyan diet is worse.

With children the most studied and the worst affected, some 35.2 per cent of under 5 year old Kenyans are malnourished, according to the World Bank. But the overall figure hides a more severe mix of micronutrient deficiencies.

“Most child deaths are caused by malnutrition,” said Maanan Mumma, a nutritionist. Moreover, the country’s levels of malnutrition are rising, not falling, driven by the near absence of fruit and vegetables in many Kenyan diets.

Says Huyen Tran, Action Against Hunger’s country programme co-ordinator in Kenya, the cause is “the consumption of foods low in fibre and high in fats and sugars”.

Specifically, the emphasis on staple foods, such as Ugali, with almost zero nutritional content, and the heavy loading of sugar into drinks, is making for a disease cocktail.

At base, Kenya is suffering some of the highest levels in the world of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), which is affecting 85 per cent of Kenyan children under 5 years, according to a recent World Bank report.

VAD is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children, causes child and maternal deaths, and night blindness among pregnant women. Unicef reports that VAD is causing tens of thousands of deaths a year in Kenya, and affecting the vast majority of Kenyan children.

A direct consequence of VAD and associated nutrient deficiencies is stunting, which is defined as low height for age and is caused by insufficient nutrients over a long period of time, coupled with frequent infections.

A stunted child is usually inches shorter than a well nourished child. They also have a weaker immune system and are therefore more vulnerable to disease.

According to Unicef, a stunted child is five times more likely to die from diarrhoea. Other effects include delayed motor development, impaired cognitive function, and poor school performance.

The fact that nutrient deficiency can permanently reduce intelligence, as well as growth and immunity, has drawn little attention in public debate, but the problem is both severe and widespread across Kenya.

Globally, stunting affects about 180m under the age of five years. In Kenya, as of 2009, 35 per cent of Kenyan children under five years were stunted, with the then Eastern province reigning supreme at 42 per cent.

Stunting is more common in rural areas, at 37 per cent, than in urban areas, where the prevalence is 26 per cent. Altogether, Kenya accounts for almost one twelfth of the world’s stunted children.