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