This archive report was first published on 9 September 2021.
Friday, September 10, 2021, marked a concerning trend in Kenya's healthcare sector, with respiratory diseases and malaria taking the lead in outpatient visits.
According to the 2021 Economic Survey, diseases of the respiratory system and malaria accounted for 27.6 percent and 19.1 percent of the total disease caseload, respectively.
With a total of 60,002,746 hospital visits, 16,562,227 and 11,460,477 were related to respiratory diseases and malaria, respectively.
"These two diseases have continued to present the leading outpatient disease caseloads over the years," said the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in its latest report.
The statistics showed a 31.6 percent decrease in the total number of cases of diseases reported in health facilities, from 60 million in 2019 to 60 million in 2020.
The first Covid-19 case was reported in Kenya on March 13, prompting the government to impose measures such as a dusk-to-dawn curfew, social distancing, and work-from-home calls.
As a result, hospital visits decreased significantly, with patients opting to stay indoors to avoid contracting the disease from health facilities.
Medical claim payouts by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) dropped by Sh4.51 billion in the year to June, the first dip in 15 years, as patients avoided hospitals for fear of contracting the coronavirus.
With 242,284 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 4,864 fatalities by Thursday, the government is urging more people to get vaccinated against the disease.
