Standardized mortality ratios between street-connected young people and the general age-equivalent population in an urban setting in Kenya from 2010 to 2015

Abstract

There are currently no published estimates of mortality rates among street-connected young people in Kenya. In this short report, we estimate mortality rates among street-connected young people in an urban setting in Kenya and calculate standardized mortality ratios to assess excess mortality among street-connected young people compared to the general population of Kenyan adolescents. We collected data on deaths among street-connected young people aged 0–29 between 2010 and 2015. We calculated sex-stratified standardized mortality ratios for street-connected young people aged 0–19 and 20–29 from 2010 to 2015, using publicly available Kenya population data as reference. We found that between 2010 and 2015, there were 69 deaths among street-connected young people aged 0 to 29 years in 2013 was 1,248: 341 females (27%) and 907 males (73%). The standardized mortality ratios among street-connected females aged 0–19 and 20–29 years were 2.79 (95% CI 1.44–4.88) and 7.55 (95% CI 3.77–13.51), respectively; standardized mortality ratios among street-connected males aged 0–19 and 20–29 years were 0.71 (95% CI 0.32–1.35) and 5.48 (95% CI 3.86–7.55), respectively. In conclusion, we found that mortality among street-connected young people in an urban setting in Kenya is elevated compared to the general population of Kenyan young people. States should act urgently and take responsibility for protecting street-connected young people’s human rights by scaling up programs to prevent morbidity and death associated with youth street involvement.