The Daily Nation reports:
The life expectancy of a Kenyan has increased to 64 years up from 55 two years ago, a report released on Sunday shows.
The data compiled by the University of Nairobi in partnership with 12 other universities worldwide notes that the life of Kenyans has improved substantially and they can expect to live longer.
The report, State Of The Tropics, further says that Zimbabwe is the only nation in the world that recorded a decline in life expectancy at 47 years.
Madagascar reported the largest improvement in life expectancy to 65.8 years, with large reductions in infant and adult mortality rates.
…. In regional terms, Zimbabwe has a low infant mortality rate, but a very high adult mortality rate (the highest in the world)
Overall, there has been massive improvement in life expectancy in the tropics since the fifties:
…. life expectancy in the tropics has increased by 22.8 years to 64.4 years between 1950 and 2010 and the gap between the life expectancy of women and men has widened in favour of women over the same period.
I guess this calls for an investigation of the real causes of the drop (if the data hold up) in mortality rates (especially infant mortality). Is it better healthcare, diet or just a natural secular trend? Or could it be better economic prospects (since the mid-1990s) that inspire greater investment in healthcare? Also, has the AIDS epidemic peaked in the tropics? Over to you, epidemiologists.
It is a bit odd that a country like Zimbabwe has a low infant mortality rate but a high adult mortality rate – why has the total collapse of state institutions disproportionately affected health provision to adults?
Filed under: africa Tagged: adult mortality rate, Aids, HIV, HIV-AIDS, infant mortality in africa, infant mortality in Kenya, infant mortality in zimbabwe, infant mortality rate, Madagascar, mortality rates, Nairobi, tropical diseases, Zimbabwe
