Mombasa County has the highest number of overweight and obese women in the coastal region.
According to a survey by the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), 48.2 percent of women aged 15-49 years in Mombasa are overweight while 21.3 percent are obese.
Stephen Mulinge, NCPD Regional Population Coordinator, says the obesity has been caused by lifestyle choices.
“They prefer hailing a tuk-tuk even in short distances thereby missing a chance to cut some calories,” he said.
Taita Taveta county comes second with 45 percent of the women in the county reported as overweight.
Lamu is third at 37.2 percent, Kwale 27.8 percent followed by Kilifi with 20.4 percent.
Tana River has the lowest number of overweight women at 19.4 percent with only 4 percent being obese.
In terms of obesity, Taita Taveta came in second after Mombasa with 18.9 percent of the women in the county being reported as obese, Lamu followed closely with 17.2 percent followed by Kwale’s 6.9.
In Kilifi, 5.4 percent of the women are obese.
