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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Andrew M. Muriuki, School of Social Work, University of Missouri- Columbia, 7th Clark Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-6206, ammrh2@mizzou.edu

Chronic illnesses have profoundly negative impact on the welfare of households, especially for the adolescents that live there. With no social welfare safety net, the physical capacities of individuals determine the household welfare status. Thus to understand how to improve the general welfare of households, it is important to understand what factors impact health status. This proposal examines how the coping capacities of Kenyan households impact adolescent health status. The data for this proposal comes from the 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) (Kenya Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) et al., 2004). The survey obtained detailed information on maternal and child health as well as demographic data from a sample of adolescent ages (15-24). An analysis of data showed that 1,319 (37.4%) of the respondents in the sample reported some form of illness in the last two weeks before being interviewed. There was a significance correlation (p<.0001) between adolescent sickness report and age of the household head. Respondents living in male adolescent headed households had the highest reported sickness rate of 65.9% and were followed by female headed household at 54.5%. Respondents living in adult female headed household had the lowest reported sickness at 20% of those that lived in that type of household. These results show some significant relationship between the household and reported sickness incidence for the adolescent.

Learning Objectives:

• To investigate the health risks of adolescents in Kenya as the number of orphans and foster children continue to increase.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Risk Factors

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.pdf format, 362.9 kb)