Universal Primary Education in Kenya: Advancement and Challenges

Universalisation of primary education (UPE) has been a global issue since the early sixties, yet several decades later and even in the 21st century, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are still grappling with it. Unlike their counterparts in the developed world, its realisation in developing countries has been faced with a myriad of constraints. Kenya has a long standing commitment to providing educational access to its primary school going children. This has been reflected in the country’s Economic Plans, Sessional papers and other development plans. Most importantly, Kenya acknowledges provision of basic education for its citizens as a human right, as is enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya (2010). Furthermore, Kenyan citizens have a right to free and compulsory education as is stipulated in the Basic Education Bill of 2012. Moreover, Vision2030 has acknowledged education as a component of the social pillars. Although the first step towards this was articulated by the Kenyan government immediately after independence in 1963 and later in 2003, little has been done to establish the extent to which Universal Primary Education has been advanced in Kenya. Therefore, there is need to do stock taking of the advancements made towards this goal. Furthermore, examining of the obstacles that have persistently hindered its success over the years is critical for realisation of universal education. This paper will therefore address the extent to which universalisation of primary education has contributed to advancement of access to basic education and the obstacles that have hindered its success. Keywords: Universal Primary Education, advancement, access, enrolments, completion and wastage

Transitional Enrolment Trends within the Different Educational Levels in Kenya: An Analysis of Promoting Facets

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have for decades grappled with bridging the gap in enrolment numbers between male and female students. Education for All (EFA) goals have provided guidance to these countries on attainment of gender equality in education. EFA goal number 5 articulates the international commitments aimed at achieving global gender equality in education by 2015. This is to be arrived at by increasing the enrolment of female learners at different levels of education. The Ministry of Education in Kenya developed policies and strategies to enable an increase in female students enrolling in school. With these policies and strategies, Kenya has realised tremendous successes in terms of enrolment numbers. However the country still faces challenges in some geographic areas. In as much as there is an increase in the number of girls participating in primary and secondary school levels, Kenya is yet to attain gender equality in education. The number of boys in these levels of education still surpass that of girls by a concerning proportion. Interestingly these trends change in post secondary education levels. Universities have recorded an amplified enrolment of female. This paper documents trends in enrolment numbers by gender in primary, secondary and post-secondary levels of education in Kenya. Further, the paper interrogates the facets that promote the shifts in the enrolment trends. Keywords: Enrolment trends; Gender inequality in education; Education in Kenya; Gender and Education; Gender differences in Education

Assessment of Inequalities in Coverage of Essential Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health Interventions in Kenya

Importance: Previous work has underscored subnational inequalities that could impede additional health gains in Kenya. Objective: To provide a comprehensive assessment of the burden, distribution, and change in inequalities in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH) interventions in Kenya from 2003 to 2014. Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based cross-sectional study used data from the 2003, 2008, and 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys. The study included women of reproductive age (ages 15-49 years) and children younger than years, with national, regional, county, and subcounty level representation. Data analysis was conducted from April 2018 to November 2018. Exposures: Socioeconomic position that was derived from asset indices and presented as wealth quintiles. Urban and rural residence and regions of Kenya were also considered. Main Outcomes and Measures: Absolute and relative measures of inequality in coverage of RMNCAH interventions. Results: For this analysis, representative samples of 31 380 women of reproductive age and 29 743 children younger than 5 years from across Kenya were included. The RMNCAH interventions examined demonstrated pro-rich and bottom inequality patterns. The most inequitable interventions were skilled birth attendance, family planning needs satisfied, and 4 or more antenatal care visits, whereby the absolute difference in coverage between the wealthiest (quintile 5) and poorest quintiles (quintile 1) was 61.6% (95% CI, 60.1%-63.1%), 33.4% (95% CI, 31.9%-34.9%), and 31.0% (95% CI, 30.5%-31.6%), respectively. The most equitable intervention was early initiation of breastfeeding, with an absolute difference (quintile 5 minus quintile 1) of −7.9% (95% CI, −11.1% to −4.8%), although antenatal care (1 visit) and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis immunization (3 doses) demonstrated the best combination of high coverage and low inequalities. Our geospatial analysis revealed significant socioeconomic disparities in the northern and eastern regions of Kenya that have translated to suboptimal intervention coverage. A significant gap remains for rural, disadvantaged populations. Conclusions and Relevance: Coverage of RMNCAH interventions has improved over time, but wealth and geospatial inequalities in Kenya are persistent. Policy and programming efforts should place more emphasis on improving the accessibility of health facility-based interventions, which generally demonstrate poor coverage and high inequalities, and focus on integrated approaches to maternal health service delivery at the community level when access is poor. Scaling up of health services for the urban and, in particular, rural poor areas and those residing in Kenya’s former north eastern province will contribute toward achievement of universal health coverage

Cohort Profile: The Kaloleni/Rabai Community Health and Demographic Surveillance System

Why was the cohort set up?In many resource-constrained settings, availability of reli-able vital statistics and health information is limited bylack of proper system for civil registration and health infor-mation. This is further limited by the fact that the majorityof population health events, such as births, morbidity andmortality, occur outside the reach of these systems. In par-ticular, obtaining credible data from rural and remote ge-ographies can be even more constrained. The developmentof population-based surveillance systems in resource-constrained countries to monitor demographic and healthevents in these countries has as its basis the limited capac-ity of civil registration and health information systems.Locally rooted surveillance systems that are embedded inthe nexus of existing community structures and localhealth systems can serve to address this gap

African Health OER Network Impact Research Plan

The goal of the evaluation research is to demonstrate the value and impact of the Network to funders, existing and potential institutional partners, OER creators and users, networks of African health education providers, and the international OER community. The successful 2010 Network grant proposal to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation included a preliminary logic model and proposed a set of indicators for the first two years of the Network. This working paper reflects a revised understanding of how to promote OER to support health education in Africa, how to demonstrate the impact of OER on the health education sector, and when to expect various outcomes.William and Flora Hewlett Foundationhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149179/1/2011.05.09_health_oer_network_impactresearchplan.pdfDescription of 2011.05.09_health_oer_network_impactresearchplan.pdf : Working Document (May 2011) (PDF

Assessing the Real-Time Impact of COVID-19 on TB and HIV Services: The Experience and Response from Selected Health Facilities in Nairobi, Kenya

There was concern that the COVID-19 pandemic would adversely affect TB and HIV programme services in Kenya. We set up real-time monthly surveillance of TB and HIV activities in 18 health facilities in Nairobi so that interventions could be implemented to counteract anticipated declining trends. Aggregate data were collected and reported monthly to programme heads during the COVID-19 period (March 2020–February 2021) using EpiCollect5 and compared with monthly data collected during the pre-COVID period (March 2019–February 2020). During the COVID-19 period, there was an overall decrease in people with presumptive pulmonary TB (31.2%), diagnosed and registered with TB (28.0%) and in those tested for HIV (50.5%). Interventions to improve TB case detection and HIV testing were implemented from August 2020 and were associated with improvements in all parameters during the second six months of the COVID-19 period. During the COVID-19 period, there were small increases in TB treatment success (65.0% to 67.0%) and referral of HIV-positive persons to antiretroviral therapy (91.2% to 92.9%): this was more apparent in the second six months after interventions were implemented. Programmatic interventions were associated with improved case detection and treatment outcomes during the COVID-19 period, suggesting that monthly real-time surveillance is useful during unprecedented events

Effects of Increased Nitrogen Deposition and Precipitation on Seed and Seedling Production of Potentilla tanacetifolia in a Temperate Steppe Ecosystem

The responses of plant seeds and seedlings to changing atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and precipitation regimes determine plant population dynamics and community composition under global change.In a temperate steppe in northern China, seeds of P. tanacetifolia were collected from a field-based experiment with N addition and increased precipitation to measure changes in their traits (production, mass, germination). Seedlings germinated from those seeds were grown in a greenhouse to examine the effects of improved N and water availability in maternal and offspring environments on seedling growth. Maternal N-addition stimulated seed production, but it suppressed seed mass, germination rate and seedling biomass of P. tanacetifolia. Maternal N-addition also enhanced responses of seedlings to N and water addition in the offspring environment. Maternal increased-precipitation stimulated seed production, but it had no effect on seed mass and germination rate. Maternal increased-precipitation enhanced seedling growth when grown under similar conditions, whereas seedling responses to offspring N- and water-addition were suppressed by maternal increased-precipitation. Both offspring N-addition and increased-precipitation stimulated growth of seedlings germinated from seeds collected from the maternal control environment without either N or water addition. Our observations indicate that both maternal and offspring environments can influence seedling growth of P. tanacetifolia with consequent impacts on the future population dynamics of this species in the study area.The findings highlight the importance of the maternal effects on seed and seedling production as well as responses of offspring to changing environmental drivers in mechanistic understanding and projecting of plant population dynamics under global change

Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.025° × 0.025°) map of local tree species richness using a global forest inventory database with individual tree information and local biophysical characteristics from ~1.3 million sample plots. We then quantify drivers of local tree species richness patterns across latitudes. Generally, annual mean temperature was a dominant predictor of tree species richness, which is most consistent with the metabolic theory of biodiversity (MTB). However, MTB underestimated LDG in the tropics, where high species richness was also moderated by topographic, soil and anthropogenic factors operating at local scales. Given that local landscape variables operate synergistically with bioclimatic factors in shaping the global LDG pattern, we suggest that MTB be extended to account for co-limitation by subordinate drivers