Twice as many men as women in the 15-49 age bracket died of sudden death last year.
Sudden death, which mostly occurred at home, was the third leading cause of deaths for this group after pneumonia and cancer.
While sudden death was recorded as the cause of death for 2,445 males, second to pneumonia (2,635), it was the sixth cause of death among females (1,051).
The main killer for females in this group was cancer, which caused 2,009 deaths, followed by pneumonia (1,814), HIV/Aids (1,356) and cardiorespiratory failure/cardiopulmonary arrest (1,323).
The third main killer of males in this group was road accidents (2,361), TB (1,860), injuries (1,812) and cardiorespiratory failure/cardiopulmonary arrest (1,611).
“A third of all deaths occurred among people aged 15-49 in 2020,” says the report.
Many Kenyans who died last year at home did so from sudden death while deaths registered in health facilities were caused by cardiac arrest.
Road accidents
The report from the Ministry of Interior reveals that a large number of Kenyans last year died at home, with sudden deaths leading (14 per cent), pneumonia (13.5 per cent), cancer (10.9 per cent) and malaria (10.4 per cent).
Data from the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, called the 2020 Kenya Vital Statistics Report, indicated that for those who died in hospitals, cardiac arrest led (9.4 per cent), pneumonia (9.1 per cent), cancer (6.1 per cent) and respiratory infections (5.8 per cent).
Kidney infections, diabetes, anaemia and asthma caused the least number of deaths, both at home and in hospitals.
Nationally, the percentage of deaths registered in health facilities declined from 57.2 per cent to 53.6 per cent compared with deaths in the community, which increased from 43 per cent to 47 per cent.
Jane Mucheru, director of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, said that death registrations remain low.
“In order to improve the reporting, we have partnered with the World Health Organization to launch a Rapid Mortality Surveillance (RMS) project for real-time data. We are piloting in the six counties of Nairobi, Kajiado, Siaya, Busia, Machakos and Mombasa. We are the primary generators of data and other agencies depend on us,” she said.
Female deaths
Counties with the highest proportions of registered community deaths included Wajir (97 per cent), Mandera (90 per cent), Vihiga (80 per cent) and Marsabit (67 per cent). Those with the lowest were Samburu (23 per cent), Uasin Gishu (24 per cent), Bomet (26 per cent), and West Pokot (27 per cent).
During the period under review, more male deaths were registered nationally compared with females.
There was a decrease in registered female deaths from 85,701 in 2019 to 80,553 in 2020.
Most counties reported more male deaths than females.
“Higher death registration for males may be attributed to the fact that men are more likely to own property compared to women and therefore accruing benefit in registering deaths of deceased males. This can also be attributed to the fact that more males are being born than females,” the study says.
Notably, more deaths occurred as a result of pneumonia and cancer at home than in health facilities.
In the middle of this year, when Covid-19 numbers were high, the Ministry of Health raised the alarm on an increase in the number of patients dying unexpectedly at home from the disease.
They attributed this trend to failure by Kenyans to seek medical care when they are not feeling well.
“The number of patients dying at home is increasing and we need to seek medical attention when we feel we are unwell. Listen to your body and act as fast as possible,” MoH official Dr Patrick Amoth said in May.
The vast majority of infected patients have, throughout the pandemic, recovered at home, sparing hospitals and intensive care units an unmanageable onslaught of admissions.
Patients recovering from Covid-19 at home were put under strict care follow-ups by professionals. BY DAILY NATION