Dr. Robert Mathenge - Co-Founder, Doctors for Healthy Living
A new national survey exposes a dangerous gap between health awareness and preventive action as non-communicable diseases continue to claim more lives
By Angela Njeri
Most Kenyans can tell you what blood pressure is. Fewer have checked theirs in the past year. And a striking number of those who have never been screened at all will tell you, without hesitation, that they feel perfectly fine.
That paradox sits at the heart of a new national survey released yesterday, which found that while health awareness among urban and peri-urban Kenyans is relatively high, it is not translating into the routine preventive action that could save lives. The findings arrive at a moment when non-communicable diseases (NCDs) — hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and obesity — are placing an increasingly heavy burden on the country’s health system.
The Know Your Numbers Survey, commissioned by Doctors for Healthy Living (D4HL) and conducted by Ipsos Kenya, surveyed 1,100 connected and economically active adults living in urban and peri-urban areas. Its aim was to map public awareness of key health indicators, understand health-seeking behaviour, and identify the barriers standing between Kenyans and preventive care.
The results are sobering.
Awareness of blood pressure topped the list at 90 per cent, followed by blood sugar at 78 per cent, Body Mass Index at 66 per cent, and cholesterol at 63 per cent. But awareness of waist circumference — a critical indicator of diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk — stood at just 25 per cent, suggesting that even among the relatively health-literate urban population surveyed, significant knowledge gaps remain.
More worrying still is what happens — or rather, what does not happen — after awareness. While 79 per cent of respondents reported having their blood pressure checked at least once in their lifetime and 59 per cent had measured their BMI, those figures fall sharply for blood sugar, where lifetime screening sits at 47 per cent, cholesterol at 15 per cent, and waist circumference at a mere 9 per cent.
The picture grows darker when the window narrows to the past 12 months. Only 38 per cent of respondents had tested their blood sugar in that period. Just 10 per cent had checked their cholesterol. And only 6 per cent had measured their waist circumference — the very indicator most closely linked to the silent onset of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
The survey identified the single biggest barrier to routine screening, and it was not cost, inconvenience, or distance from a health facility. It was the feeling of being well. Among respondents who had not undergone recent health checks, 72 per cent said they skipped screening simply because they felt healthy. Lack of time was cited by 18 per cent, inconvenient timing by 12 per cent, and cost by just 10 per cent.
It is a finding that cuts to the core of the challenge facing preventive healthcare in Kenya.
“One of the biggest challenges in preventive healthcare is that many people equate feeling healthy with being healthy,” said Dr. Robert Mathenge, co-founder of Doctors for Healthy Living. “Conditions such as hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and even cancer can develop without obvious symptoms. Detecting health risks and disease early can improve the chances of timely treatment and better outcomes. Knowing and monitoring your key health indicators is one of the simplest and most effective ways of taking charge of your health.”
Mathenge also cautioned that the survey’s findings likely represent the more optimistic end of the spectrum. Because the sample was drawn from urban and economically active Kenyans — people with greater access to information and health services — awareness levels in rural communities could be considerably lower, deepening the case for extending health literacy and preventive screening well beyond the cities.
The survey also highlighted a persistent gender gap in health-seeking behaviour. Women consistently demonstrated higher awareness and screening rates than men across nearly all indicators — a disparity the researchers say underscores the need for targeted interventions to draw men more meaningfully into preventive healthcare.
On the question of where Kenyans prefer to access screening, the findings point to both opportunity and missed potential. An overwhelming 80 per cent of respondents said they preferred private hospitals and clinics for routine screening, with 71 per cent favouring public health facilities. Yet pharmacies — among the most accessible and frequently visited healthcare touchpoints in the country — were the preferred choice of only 17 per cent, despite their potential as low-barrier screening sites.
Workplaces, too, emerged as an untapped platform. The survey suggests that integrating routine health screening into corporate wellness programmes could improve employee wellbeing, reduce absenteeism, and support long-term productivity — a compelling argument for employers as much as for public health officials.
Anthony Mugo, Head of Partnerships at Doctors for Healthy Living, put it plainly. “Knowing your numbers should become as routine as servicing your car or renewing your insurance,” he said. “Preventive healthcare must become part of where people live, work, and access everyday services. The easier and more routine we make screening, the greater our chances of detecting disease early and safeguarding our health.”
The broader context makes the survey’s findings all the more urgent. According to the World Health Organization, NCDs account for 74 per cent of deaths globally, with low- and middle-income countries bearing the heaviest burden. Kenya is not insulated from that trend. As the country’s urban population grows and lifestyles shift, the conditions that drive NCDs — poor diet, physical inactivity, stress, and inadequate screening — are becoming more, not less, prevalent.
The Know Your Numbers Survey does not merely diagnose a problem. It maps a way forward: pharmacies repurposed as screening hubs, workplaces redesigned around wellness, and a public health narrative that moves beyond treating the sick to protecting the well. The tools exist. The awareness, to a meaningful degree, already exists. What Kenya now needs is the habit.
Feeling healthy and being healthy, the survey reminds us, are not the same thing.
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