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A Kenyan man is most likely to be divorced by a woman aged between 35 and 39 years, says a new report.

The report published by the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) indicates the number of women in that age bracket who are either divorced or separated from their husbands is on the rise compared to other age groups.

The report indicates the rate of divorce among women above 35 years stands at 5.2 per cent and it is more rampant in the urban than in rural areas.

It is a different scenario among women aged 25 to 29 and 45 to 49 years whose divorce rate remains at 1.1 and 2.2 per cent respectively.

About 9.3 per cent of women aged 45 to 49 per cent are married, with NCPD clarifying that older women are more likely to be in polygamous marriages than the younger ones.

The population council has raised concern that the marriages of girls as young as fifteen years old has remained constant since the 1990s at about 4.4 per cent despite the government’s effort to reduce adolescents’ birth rates.

“The prevalence of child marriage is higher among girls than boys at 23 per cent as compared to the boys at a mere 2.5 per cent. The prevalence of child marriage among girls in the country is 23 per cent (29 per cent in rural and 17 per cent in urban areas),” NCPD said in a report dubbed sessional paper one of 2023 on Kenya national population policy for sustainable development.

 NCPD termed child marriage a violation of human rights since no consent is obtained from the young girls as parents, caregivers or other circumstances such as unplanned pregnancy, poverty and cultural practices like female circumcision often force it.

“Elimination of child marriages is critical for the achievement of the sustainable development goals relating to poverty, food security, health, education, gender equality, economic growth, peace and justice in the country.” the report reads in part. Meanwhile the council stated that Kenya has registered improvements in life expectancy at birth. Life expectancy for men improved from 47 to 61 years and for females from 51 to 67 years between 1969 and 2019.

Persistent prevalence

However, The country is still experiencing high and persistent prevalence in communicable diseases, maternal conditions, nutritional and neonatal conditions despite the current shift in disease burden towards non-communicable diseases and injuries.

Child deaths have reduced significantly, with the council reporting that death of children under the age of five declined from 124 per 1000 live births in1989 to 52 per 1000 live births in 2019 while infant mortality declined from 70 per 1000 live births to 36 per 1000 live births over the same period.

“Under five mortality ranges from a low of 30 deaths per 1,000 live births in Tharaka-Nithi to a high of 107 deaths per 1,000 live births in Migori county. Migori, Homabay, Tana River and Vihiga counties are the counties recording the highest infant and under five mortality rates in Kenya. They are also the counties with the highest HIV prevalence and malaria endemicity,” NCPD said.

 According to the council, both malaria and HIV/Aids are the leading killers of children that also include malnutrition and physical violence.

Communicable diseases

 At the age of 10 to 14, children are likely to die out of communicable diseases including Malaria, HIV/AIDS and diarrhoea which contribute up to 64 per cent of deaths among boys and 69 per cent of deaths among girls within the age group.

Further at the age of between 15 to 19, road injuries and HIV/AIDs are the leading causes of deaths among boys and girls where a total of 837 road traffic deaths were reported in 2020 for children aged less than 20 years, accounting for 21 per cent of all the deaths.

“The second leading cause of deaths among girls aged 15-19 is maternal conditions, contributing to 16 percent of the death among this age group.