The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy in Kenya

The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy in Kenya explores health progress in Kenya over the past 23 years and examines the challenges the country faces as its population grows and the landscape of its health shifts. This report is a collaboration between the International Center for Humanitarian Affairs (ICHA) based at Kenya Red Cross, and the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Using results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) study, which draws from the input of Kenyan data sources and researchers, we provide information about the causes of death and disability in Kenya, as well as the risk factors that contribute to poor health. Finally, the report highlights how policymakers are leading efforts to advance population-level health in addition to highlighting gaps.

This report complements Kenya’s long history of using evidence to inform national health policies and programs to advance the health of all Kenyans. Recent evidence-informed policy efforts include the use of disease burden results to target the leading causes of health loss in Kenya for the Ministry of Health’s Kenya Health Sector Strategy and Investment Plan (KHSSP), 2014-2018; health facility assessments to determine gaps in case management for non-communicable diseases for the Kenya National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, 2015-2020; and setting strategic national objectives in the updated Kenya Health Policy, 2014-2030. Collectively, the use of evidence in these high-level health policy plans lays the foundation for continued gains toward Kenya’s Vision 2030, the nation’s long-term goal for elevating Kenya to being a more prosperous, healthier country by 2030. This report summarizes GBD 2013 findings for Kenya. Additional results for Kenya can be explored through our suite of data visualization tools: http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare.