Non-communicable diseases risk factors and their contribution to ncdincidences in Kenya
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Date
2015-10Author
Mwai, Daniel
Muriithi, Moses
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Although mortality from communicable diseases and poor nutrition
have been declining, non-communicable diseases have been on the rise in
developing countries. Consequently, this poses a serious challenge to health
programming. There are predictions that NCDs will continue to rise in the
coming years resulting to at least 9 million deaths every year. This death rate
would occur among people who are below 60 years of age in sub-Saharan
Africa. NCDs are associated with some underlying risk factors of which
most of them can be tackled through clear policy intervention. Notably,
many risk factors are also known to be country specific which requires
country specific studies. The efforts towards the prevention of NCDs in
Kenya are inadequate. This could be attributed to inadequate understanding
of the contribution of suspected risk factors to NCDs. In addition, addressing
the risk factors associated with these diseases may present a cheaper and
long-term solution to the problem of rising cases of NCDs in Kenya. This
paper uses household national survey data to estimate the influence of risk
factors associated with NCD in Kenya. A probit binary model was used
while controlling the econometric problem associated with endogeniety and
heterogeneity assumptions. The key finding is that income, distance, peer,
effects on area of residence, and education are key risk factors associated
with the rising NCD in Kenya. Age and gender are non-policy variables that
increased the likelihood of one getting a NCD. This study has pointed out
that the health care system in Kenya needs to develop mechanisms for
promoting preventive care for NCDs. Also, effective prevention methods
that address the NCD risk factors are preferable for treatment. However,
these prevention methods are not only expensive, but are also protracted.
Citation
Mwai, D., & Muriithi, M. (2015). Non-communicable diseases risk factors and their contribution to ncdincidences in Kenya. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 11(30).Publisher
University of Nairobi