Kenya Healthy Diet and Active Lifestyle Infrastructure for the Next Generation

Children’s physical inactivity and their low levels of fitness are the 4th biggest threat to non-communicable diseases worldwide. In Kenya, rapid urbanisation has prompted inactivity and obesity; half of Kenyan children are insufficiently active while one-fifth of children in Nairobi are obese. This project seeks to integrate social, exercise and health sciences as well as education and engineering disciplines that quantify the features and quality/quantity of physical activity in the field. Through process evaluative and co-production approaches, the research team aims to adapt tools to suit the rural and urban Kenyan school and community systems. The goal is for all children in Kenya to be sufficiently active, thus reducing the burden of NCDs caused by inactivity and their associated fiscal and social costs. 

Research Team: Professor Gareth Stratton, Swansea University; Professor Sinead Brophy, Swansea University; Dr George Oweno, Kenyatta University; Professor Vincent Onywera, Kenyatta University; Professor Huw Summers, Swansea University; Dr Lucy Wachira, Kenyatta University