According to 2022 Kenya Demographic Health Survey, 18 percent of children under five- years in Kenya are stunted, five percent are wasted while 10 percent are underweight due to under nutrition.
On the other hand, 3 percent of children under five- years are overweight, which is a sign of over nutrition.
The prevalence of stunting has decreased markedly since 1993, with the greatest decrease between 2008– 09, 35 percent, and 2022 18 percent..
Over this same time period, changes in the prevalence of wasting and overweight have been small, although the prevalence of each is at its lowest point since 1993.
The survey discovered that stunting is higher among children in rural areas at 20 percent than children in urban areas 12 percent.
Additionally, stunting decreases with increasing wealth, from 28 percent in the lowest quintile to 9 percent in the highest quintile.
It also found out that 22 percent of children born to mothers with no education are stunted, as compared with 9 percent of children born to mothers with more than a secondary education.
Kilifi, West Pokot, and Samburu, 37%, 34%, and 31%, respectively, have the highest stunting percentages while Kisumu and Garissa has the lowest percentage of 9 percent each.
In regard to breastfeeding, 60 percent of children under age 6 months are exclusively breastfed.
There has been a substantial increase in exclusive breastfeeding since 2003, from 13 percent to 60 percent, following a decline between 1989 and 2003. Exclusive breastfeeding is essentially unchanged between 2014 and 2022.
Further it was discovered that, 34 percent of children below age 24 months were fed from a bottle with a nipple.
WHO and UNICEF says bottle feeding is not recommended for children under age 2. The nipple on a feeding bottle is susceptible to contamination and increases the risk of disease among children.
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