Nairobi has experienced exponential growth over the last 6 years with a population of 3,138 million inhabitants in 2009 and an estimated 4.1 million inhabitants in 2016. The reason behind the sharp increase in the population is because the majority of the inhabitants live in the slums that, according to estimates, house around 60% of the population and only cover 5% of the residential area of the town.

In the slums, the prevalence rate of global acute malnutrition was recorded as 5.7% (2014) and the prevalence rate of chronic malnutrition as 46% (Kimani-Murage et al., 2015).

The following major risk factors have been identified:

Chronic unemployment,

Vulnerable to shocks,

High prices during epidemics and political unrest,

Chronic food insecurity,

Poor hygiene and sanitation,

Chronic diarrhea in young children.

Please refer to l’Essentiel to find out more about the information obtained from this study and the recommendations that have been made.