Study: Kenyan men malnourished as women become overweight

More men are malnourished even as the number of overweight women continues to rise, a new Government survey has revealed.

Overweight and obesity prevalence among adults aged between 15-69 years is high, especially among women, according to the Ministry of Heath survey.

Twice as many women (38.4 per cent) compared to men (17.5 per cent) were either overweight or obese, the statistical review progress towards the midterm targets of the Kenya health sector strategic plan 2014 -2018 shows.

Data for women aged between 15-49 years from four national surveys shows that the prevalence of obesity increased rapidly after 2008, from 7.2 per cent to 12.6 per cent in 2015.

By contrast, men appear thinner than women and are likely to be underweight at 24.7 per cent compared to women (13.2 per cent).

Gladys Mugambi, who heads the nutrition and dietetics unit at the Health ministry, explained that men, especially those who live alone, form habits dangerous to their health. “Those men tend to form habits like skipping meals or eating unhealthy meals. We need to do more research to understand why,” she said.

Ms Mugambi added that wasting, which means low weight for height, among men was observed to have an overall prevalence of 24.7 per cent.

Citing a previous micro-nutrient survey, Mugambi said men in rural areas were more likely to waste at 30.4 per cent than the urban men at 13.7 per cent.

On why more women were overweight and obese, she explained that the female folk in urban settings are highly predisposed to inactive lifestyles, including intake of highly refined diets.

“It is clear here that the lifestyle of women living in urban areas lead to an increase in their weight. Its also important to note that hormonal issues and family planning pills affects their weight,” she said.

Nearly one million women aged between 15-49 years were obese in 2015 and these were concentrated in central Kenya and urban counties.

Two-thirds of all obese women live in 10 counties, and the top three were Nairobi, Kiambu and Mombasa.

Mugambi further explained that habits women pick while preparing meals around the home also affect their weight. “Women also do more of the cooking at home and their habits to taste every time also affects their weight. This area also needs more research,” she said.

The study done jointly by the Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation also reveals that 13.7 per cent of women are obese while only 4.3 per cent of men were found to be obese. Obese is defined as BMI 30 or higher while overweight refers to BMI 25-29.9.

“The findings also show a consistency in the levels of education in both women and men, where those with the lowest education had the lowest mean body mass index,” Mugambi said.

The study indicates that women in Nairobi and Central regions had overweight prevalence rates of 50 per cent while Coast, Eastern and Nyanza were between 30 and 40 per cent.

Rift Valley, Western and North Eastern had prevalence below 30 per cent for women aged between 15 to 49 years.

The report cites the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008/09 which reveals that obesity in women in the above age group increased from 7.2 per cent to 12.6 per cent in 2015.

It shows that socio-economic status has an effect on women's weight, with 50 per cent of them in the highest wealth quintile being either overweight or obese, compared to only 12 per cent of women in the poorest quintile.

She said that even though the Government has developed a national food security and nutrition policy and strategy with the objective of “ensuring that all Kenyans throughout their life-cycle enjoy, it was individual responsibility to ensure good food uptake".

“While the Government has the responsibility in doing so, it (doesn't) feed you and people should learn to eat right,” she said.

The report also states that the number of women who need family planning but do not have access (unmet need) stands at 2.3 million.

The counties that had the highest numbers of women with unmet need were distributed in all parts of Kenya, and the top 10 counties, led by Nairobi, Nakuru and Turkana, accounted for 52 per cent of the total need in Kenya.

Ten counties account for more than half (52 per cent) of the 2.3 million women who need family planning but do not have access. These include Nairobi, nakuru, Kiambu, Mombasa, Kakamega, Bungoma, Meru. 

Western Kenya also accounts for a majority cases of home deliveries.