The Kenya Times: How the Food You Eat Everyday is Slowly Killing You
14 April 2025Everyday, millions of Kenyans consume foods that are slowly killing them without their knowledge. These foods are affordable, heavily marketed and readily available.
While about 8.9 million Kenyans (17 percent of the population) are living in extreme poverty and do not have access to food, a growing health crisis is being fueled by the abundance of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods.
These foods are largely contributing to a rising wave of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes, among others.
In Kenya, 50 percent of women above reproductive age are obese, and 20 percent of men are also affected.
Additionally, half of hospital beds in Kenya are occupied by those suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), according to Leila Akinyi Odhiambo, the Deputy Head of Nutrition and Dietetics Unit at the Ministry of Health, Kenya.
“If you want to change the health of a population, nutrition is the foundation,” she said.
However, what makes it worse is that many people still don’t see unhealthy eating as a public health threat, and are happy to afford and have access to any kind of food to eat.
This alarming trend is not unique to Kenya. It is a widespread issue across East African countries. But as East Africa grapples with this growing crisis, the big question is whether we can come together and create a unified approach to nutrition across the region that prioritizes health over convenience and profit.
The East Africa Regional Dialogue on Policies to Transform Markets for Nutritious Foods, co-convened by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNi), and the Ministry of Health, Kenya addressed this growing concern.
The conference brought together key voices in nutrition and public health on April 8 and 9, 2025, to discuss how to ensure that nutritious foods are not just accessible, but affordable, desirable, and profitable.