Country Flag of Kenya Map of Kenya, Courtesy of WorldAtlas.com

Local time in Nairobi:


Facts and Figures

arrow Official Name Republic of Kenya.

arrow Capital City Nairobi.

arrow Languages English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages.

arrow Official Currency Kenyan shilling (KES).

arrow Ethnic Groups Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab) 1%.

arrow Religions Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, indigenous beliefs 10%, Muslim 10%, other 2%. Note: a large majority of Kenyans are Christian, but estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely.

arrow Population 31,138,735. Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2002 est.).

arrow Land Area 566,970 sq km (218,907 sq miles).

History

Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence until his death in 1978, when current President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, but are viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. The country faces a period of political uncertainty because MOI is constitutionally required to step down at the next election that has to be held by early 2003.

UNAIDS Epidemiological
Fact Sheets

[English] [French]

Global Surveillance of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is a joint effort of WHO and UNAIDS. The UNAIDS/WHO Working Group on Global HIV/AIDS and STI Surveillance, initiated in November 1996, guides respective activities. The primary objective of the working group is to strengthen national, regional and global structures and networks for improved monitoring and surveillance of HIV/AIDS and STIs. For this purpose, the working group collaborates closely with national AIDS programmes and a number of national and international experts and institutions. The goal of this collaboration is to compile the best information available and to improve the quality of data needed for informed decision-making and planning at national, regional and global levels. The Epidemiological Fact Sheets are one of the products of this close and fruitful collaboration across the globe.

Kenya Contacts

Country Name Title Office Telephone Fax
Kenya Kevin DeCock, MD Director, CDC Kenya 254 2 713 008 254 2 725 184
 
 Larry Marum, MD Medical Epidemiologist 254 2 713 008 254 2 725 184
 
 Elizabeth Marum, PhD Public Health Advisor 254 2 713 008 254 2 725 184
 
 Johnny Westerholm PHA, Asst. Dir for Ops 254 2 713 008 254 2 725 184

Web sites

U.S. Government Agencies

CDC Fact Sheet: Kenya
Kenya arguably has the world's most magnificent game parks, unspoiled beaches, thriving coral reefs, mountains and ancient cities. It is one of nine African countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic.

US Department of State - Travel Advisory
Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Countries where avoidance of travel is recommended will have Travel Warnings as well as Consular Information Sheets.

USAID Global Health: Kenya
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Kenya's current HIV/AIDS program (1998-2005) focuses on prevention of HIV infection, policy and advocacy, community-based care and support, integration of AIDS with family planning and child health programs, blood safety, operations research, and multisectoral activities. In FY 2001, HIV/AIDS funding for Kenya was $11.5 million, including $2.0 million for vulnerable children and $1.0 million for tuberculosis. FY 2002 funding levels include $17.5 million in HIV/AIDS and $1.75 million for tuberculosis activities.

World Fact Book
The Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO).

U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations

Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Relief Services' principal goals in Kenya are to improve food security, build capacity to improve the health and nutritional status of women and children, increase human dignity and quality of life for individuals, families and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, strengthen capacity to provide effective financial services to the marginalized poor, create a just-peace society and to effectively and efficiently respond to emergencies.

Family Health International (FHI): Kenya
Kenya has the challenge of meeting the reproductive health needs of a rapidly expanding population in the era of AIDS and under the constraint of shrinking health resources. Currently, one in every 15 adults in Kenya is infected with HIV, and each day an estimated 600 Kenyans die of AIDS.

Stop Global AIDS
Imagine a town where you only see grandparents and young children, and the rest are mysteriously missing. The schools have no teachers, the hospitals have no nurses. This is what AIDS is creating in impoverished countries. But people all over the world are fighting back. They're working to save their families and towns. Countries can stop AIDS - when the burden of unjust debt is lifted and affordable medications, plus funds for education, care and treatment, are provided. Politicians hold the key – we must show them the way forward. Join us now to be a part of the solution.

Kenya

Non-Governmental Organizations

G.R.A.C.E. - Grassroots Alliance for Community Education
The Grassroots Alliance for Community Education (G.R.A.C.E.) is a 501(c)(3), non-profit entity. G.R.A.C.E. works with communities in sub-Saharan Africa to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS. G.R.A.C.E.'s mission is to help grassroots community-based organizations implement locally determined and sustainable initiatives in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Kenya AIDS Vaccine Intiative
The Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative (KAVI) Centre at the College of Health Sciences is very quiet today. We have just arrived at 3 p.m., late for our appointment with Dr. Aggrey Anzala, the initiative's laboratory manager and Dr. Job Abwayo, the chairman of the Department of Microbiology and KAVI Principal Investigator. The secretary tells us the latter "is just around" and calls the former on the cell-phone.

Kenya AIDS Watch Institute
The Kenya AIDS Watch Institute, KAWI, is an independent, apolitical and impartial monitoring organization established to gather and disseminate objective information and critical analysis of the effectiveness and relevance of all the current and future anti-HIV/AIDS programmes.

Kenya AIDS NGOs
KANCO exists to provide and promote leadership, solidarity and collaboration among members for collective action towards effective responses to HIV/AIDS.

Kenya AIDS Intervention Prevention Project Group (KAIPPG)
KAIPPG is a grassroots NGO that grew out of a commitment to helping others and has developed to include dedicated and caring volunteers throughout the world. We now have a large organization working throughout several provinces in W.Kenya, a branch office in the United States, and 50 online volunteers from around the globe,including China, Japan, Egypt, India, Australia, the Philippines, Kenya, the US, England, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Finland, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria.

Kibera Community Youth Programme
The advancement and well-being of youths aimed at equalizing opportunities that promote proactive participation in community development.


Orphanages

Nyumbani
Nyumbani-- "home" in Swahili--provides a true home to these abandoned children until a correct determination of their HIV status can be made. Children who are eventually found not to be infected with HIV are then placed in appropriate settings to be adopted or cared for by traditional social services agencies. The children found to be truly HIV+ are given the best nutritional, medical, psychosocial, and spiritual care available and live the rest of their days at Nyumbani.

Frances Jones Abandoned Baby Center (Nairobi)
We are offering hope for the future of many Kenyan children by building a facility to care for and nurture babies who have been discarded and left to die. We believe that every effort should be made to give them homes in their communities with a caring family. Affiliated with Feed the Children ministry.

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Kenya

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