Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Oct 15;17(1):309.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-024-06930-5.

A recent history of disease outbreaks in Kenya, 2007-2022: Findings from routine surveillance data

Farida Geteri  1 , Jeanette Dawa  2 , John Gachohi  3 , Samuel Kadivane  4 , Felix Humwa  5 , Emmanuel Okunga  4
Affiliations

A recent history of disease outbreaks in Kenya, 2007-2022: Findings from routine surveillance data

Farida Geteri et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Background: Africa reports the highest number of outbreaks globally, accounting for 39% of all outbreaks in 2022. The Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response strategy in Kenya ensures the reporting of outbreaks up to the national level. We present a summary of the burden of reported disease outbreaks in Kenya, 2007-2022.

Methods: We reviewed historical surveillance data, 2007-2022, summarized the annual caseload and deaths of reported outbreaks, and classified the outbreaks into 3 categories, that is high, moderate, and low burden. A nested Poisson regression model was fit to determine whether there was a significant increase in the number of diseases and counties reporting outbreaks over time.

Results: Twenty-three diseases were reported. COVID-19, cholera, epidemic malaria, kala-azar, and measles were associated with a high disease burden. The highest number of diseases reported in a single year was 10. We observed an increase in the number of outbreaks over time (IRR = 1.26, 95% CI [1.22-1.29], p < 0.001), and an increase in the number of counties reporting outbreaks over time (r = 0.97, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: There was an increase in the frequency and geographic occurrence of outbreaks. The differences in outbreak occurrence between counties necessitate targeted and enhanced preventive, preparedness, and response interventions at the sub-national level to reduce the burden of outbreaks.

Keywords: Burden; Kenya; Outbreak; Priority disease; Surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Disease occurrence over time for outbreaks with the highest number of cases in Kenya, 2007–2022
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Categorization of disease outbreak burden in Kenya 2007–2022
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Trends of number of outbreaks and diseases reported from surveillance data in Kenya, 2007–2022
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Number of counties reporting outbreaks in Kenya, 2007–2022
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Frequency of disease outbreaks reported by county in Kenya, 2007–2022
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Torres Munguía JA, Badarau FC, Díaz Pavez LR, Martínez-Zarzoso I, Wacker KM. A global dataset of pandemic- and epidemic-prone disease outbreaks. Sci Data. Dec. 2022;9(1). 10.1038/s41597-022-01797-2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mboussou F, et al. Infectious disease outbreaks in the African region: overview of events reported to the World Health Organization in 2018. Epidemiol Infect. May 2019;147:e299. 10.1017/S0950268819001912. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kyu HH, et al. Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 359 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the global burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018;392(10159):1859–922. 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32335-3. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blazes DL, Riddle MS, Ryan ET. The local importance of global infectious diseases. Trop Dis Travel Med Vaccines. 2015;1(1). 10.1186/s40794-015-0004-7. BioMed Central Ltd. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Talisuna AO, et al. Spatial and temporal distribution of infectious disease epidemics, disasters and other potential public health emergencies in the World Health Organisation Africa region, 2016–2018. Global Health. Jan. 2020;16(1). 10.1186/s12992-019-0540-4. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources