Kenya has under 10 elderly care doctors for 3 million older persons, advocates warn

Kenya has fewer than 10 doctors trained to treat older persons for a population of 3.6 million elderly people, ageing advocates have warned.

Maurice Omolo, manager of the CPF Group Foundation, the non-profit arm of pension administrator CPF Group, said the country had no specialist geriatric health system, leaving millions of Kenyans to age without access to doctors trained in their specific conditions.

"In Kenya, we have very few doctors. In fact, less than 10 specialised geriatric doctors in Kenya," noted Omolo.

Kenya currently has 3.6 million older persons, a number the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) says is expected to triple to 12 million by 2050.

Omolo spoke on Friday at Nairobi Royal Golf Club, where the CPF Group Foundation hosted the second edition of its Swing for Seniors charity golf tournament, bringing together corporate sponsors and business leaders to fund sanitation projects for elderly people in rural Kenya.

He said the healthcare gap was as urgent as the sanitation crisis the event was raising money to address.

Older people in Kenya are expected to receive care at government hospitals where no special provision or arrangements are in place, and a lack of doctors specialising in geriatric care further compounds the problem, according to health researchers.

Omolo said older patients visiting hospitals were routinely sidelined, with doctors directing questions to younger caregivers rather than to the patients themselves.

"You can see doctors speaking to their caregiver, who could be a younger person, instead of talking to the older person themselves. So they even feel that their views are being neglected," observed Omolo.

Geriatricians are general practitioners with specialised training in working with older patients.

Kenya has no formal pathway for training or deploying such specialists at scale, the foundation says.

Kenya's ageing population faces growing risks from non-communicable diseases including hypertension, diabetes and cancer, while only one in four Kenyans has health insurance, with coverage dropping further in rural areas to 40 per cent, according to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).

Omolo claimed insurance companies compounded the problem by charging prohibitively high premiums at precisely the age when older persons needed medical cover most, while a government-backed post-retirement medical scheme remained nascent and its coverage insufficient.

The broader health workforce crisis deepens the challenge. Kenya currently produces 7,650 new health workers each year yet needs 70,000 more to ensure all Kenyans can access care, with the shortage expected to grow beyond 114,000 by 2030, according to the WHO.

 Geriatric specialists are not part of routine medical training in Kenya.

CPF Group Managing Director Hosea Kili said corporations had a collective responsibility to act where the state had fallen short.

"A lack of clean, accessible sanitation facilities doesn't just invite illness, it strips away basic human dignity," said Kili.

Foundation chairperson Susan Omanga said the intervention targeted a gap that had gone unaddressed for too long.

"Our intervention goes beyond providing basic amenities; it's about addressing a critical systemic gap that leaves our seniors isolated and exposed to health risks," added Omanga.

The foundation has delivered over 230 age-friendly toilets in Machakos, Kajiado and Migori counties and aims to reach 10,000 older persons with improved sanitation within two to three years, expanding to 10 additional counties, including Homa Bay, Kisumu, Nyeri, Marsabit, Mombasa and Kisii, Omolo said.

The long-term target is 500,000 older persons across all 47 counties by 2030.

Omolo called on the government to adopt policies treating older persons as a distinct category deserving dedicated resources, citing Article 57 of the Constitution, which obliges the state to ensure the dignity, respect and care of older persons.

"We are also calling on the government to support programmes or to come up with policies which advance the rights of older persons," urged Omolo.