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Women aged 45 to 49 years are the most frequent alcohol drinkers among their female counterparts in the country.
This is according to the just released Kenya Demographic Health Survey. When the survey was done, women in this age group were the highest consumers of alcohol on a daily basis at 16 per cent among females who drank alcohol daily for 14 days, beating other female respondents aged between 15 and 49 years.
Women who ranked second in daily alcohol consumption in the fortnight preceding the survey were aged 35 to 39 years at 8.1 per cent followed by those aged 25 to 29 years at 4.6 per cent and 30 to 34 years at 4.1 per cent. Those in the 20 to 24 years age bracket were found least likely to take alcohol every day at 1.9 per cent.
Generally, the study found that men are more likely to consume alcohol than women with residents in urban areas and especially in Nairobi more likely to consume alcohol than their counterparts elsewhere.
One out of every ten women in Nairobi drinks alcohol. Women in urban areas are twice as likely to consume alcohol as their counterparts in the rural areas, according to the survey. About seven per cent of women respondents in urban areas drink alcohol compared to 3.2 per cent in rural areas. The study says most women alcohol consumers are wealthy.
HIDDEN RISKS
Women with no formal education beat their female counterparts in alcohol consumption at 6.8 per cent while those with secondary school education and above rated second highest consumers of the beverage at 5.7 per cent.
The data especially on women of reproductive age comes with growing evidence from health experts on the hidden risks of alcohol in this age-group, for instance, liver damage.
Excessive drinking in women may disrupt menstrual cycle and increase the risk of infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery, the experts say.
Whereas alcohol consumption among women was not clearly associated with education or wealth, the proportion of men who drank alcohol generally increased with education and wealth.
Tobacco use was found to be more common among men than women with men in Central and Eastern Kenya topping the list at 30 and 25 per cent respectively.
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