Communicable diseases were the leading cause of death in Kenya in 2023, knocking off non-communicable diseases (NCDs) from the top spot in a historic shift, a fresh report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows.
The latest Kenya Vital Statistics data shows that communicable diseases accounted for 43.4 percent of deaths in 2023, up from 32.8 percent in 2022 - a stark increase that points to a major national health challenge, with infectious diseases such as respiratory infections, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria claiming more lives than ever before.
