With Great empasis on the UNDP survey Mother and Child Mission Centre Kenya has foreseen that most of the Poorest and more marginalised within the society are women of this country Kenya:
In all matters parataining to education, health, wealth, among other lines women suffer more as compared to their men counterparts.
A new United Nations report has revealed shocking disparities between Kenya’s poorest and the richest regions.
The report also says that 50 per cent of Kenyans are living below the poverty line.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report states that four out of the eight provinces recorded an increase in poverty levels in 2005.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report states that four out of the eight provinces recorded an increase in poverty levels in 2005.
“Compared to the year 2004, human poverty has increased marginally in all the provinces, except Nyanza, Western and Coast,” says the Kenya National Human Development Report 2006.
At least one in every two Kenyans live below the poverty line, while the number of those living in abject poverty has deepened. These are the Kenyans without access to health care, including doctors, water and proper nutrition.
Richest households
Paradoxically, the report says that the 10 per cent richest households control more than 42 per cent of incomes, while the poorest 10 per cent command 0.76 per cent.
According to the report released yesterday, the biggest increase in poverty levels was recorded in North Eastern Province, whose human poverty index rose from 43 to 50.5 per cent.
In Nairobi, the figures rose from 26 per cent in Nairobi in 2004, to 29 per cent in 2005, Central 30 per cent to 36 per cent, and Eastern 39 to 41 per cent. Whereas the indices stabilised at 39 per cent at the Rift Valley and 43 per cent at the Coast, they declined in Western, from 40 per cent to 37, and in Nyanza, 41 to 38.
Although the economy has grown to nearly six per cent, the reduction in the number of Kenyans living below the poverty line has been slow.
In terms of regions, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kericho are the best places to live in.
This means that people in the three towns enjoy high standards of economic, health, personal and food security, among other measures on which the scores were given.
While Turkana, Wajir and Garissa are the worst districts to reside in due to myriad of hardships, including insecurity.
Human development
The report examines seven realms of the human security, which are considered central to the improvement of the welfare of human beings.
These are economic, health, food, community, political, personal and environmental and are measured using mathematical models that come up with a summary measure of human development.
The final figure is referred to a Human Development Index (HDI).
Discussing the poverty levels, the report says the poorer people have little or no hope of bringing up a child to the age where they can benefit from the free primary education introduced by the Narc Government in 2003, let alone send them to a secondary school.
Discussing the poverty levels, the report says the poorer people have little or no hope of bringing up a child to the age where they can benefit from the free primary education introduced by the Narc Government in 2003, let alone send them to a secondary school.
In terms of life expectancy, the report notes that a person born in Nyanza Province can expect to live 16 less years than his counterpart in Central. Life expectancy in Meru is double that of Mombasa, 68.6 and 33.1 years respectively.
About 93 per cent of women in North Eastern Province have no education at all, compared to three per cent in Central Province.
Again, Central Province fares far better on health matters, compared to all the others. Thus, whereas it has one doctor for about 20,000 people, in North Eastern there is one doctor for 120,000 people.
Every child in Central Province attends primary school compared to about one out of three in North Eastern Province.
The report also says that the proportion of households with piped water in their homes in urban areas is five times than in rural areas — about 19.2 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.
It calls for fairer distribution of resources, equal opportunities, improved security and greater investment in technology.
It calls for fairer distribution of resources, equal opportunities, improved security and greater investment in technology.
“The country has to institutionalise income protective mechanisms, among them the minimum wage, wage indexation and progressive taxation,” it recommends.
Life expectancy is surprisingly highest in North Eastern Province at 62.2 years followed by Central at 60.4 years and lowest in Nyanza, at 41.7 years and Western Province, 49.8 years.
A person born in Rift Valley Province can expect to live to be 59.1 years, Eastern 57.6 years and Coast 52 years.
Turkana, which is at the tail end, has an index of 0.172, Wajir (0.256) and Garissa (0.267). Other 10 districts in the bottom 10 are Makueni, Tana River, Ijara, Mandera, West Pokot, Samburu and Kajiado.
Agricultural areas
The districts boasting high quality of life are generally urban centres, with industrial concentrations or high potential agricultural areas. Also in the top 10 are Maragua, Tharaka Nithi, Nyeri, Embu, Mt Elgon, Moyale and Koibatek.
The report recognises the economic growth, which started in 2003 and saw the Gross Domestic Product grow to 4.9 per cent in 2004 and 5.8 per cent in 2005.
Due to registered economic growth, the country’s general HDI has increased from 0.52 in 2004 to 0.532 in 2005. However, Kenya is still ranked behind Uganda but ahead of Tanzania in East Africa.
The report cites the hot spots of chronic poverty, where people live on less than a dollar a day, as being concentrated in North Eastern, Eastern, Coast, Nyanza and Western provinces.
