Kitui County

Kitui County (until 2010 Kitui District ) is a county in the province of Eastern in Kenya. The capital is Kitui. In County 2009 1.012.709 people lived on 24385.1 km ². The county is divided into ten divisions: Central, Chuluni, Matinyani, Mwitika, Mutitu, Ikutha, Yatta, Mutongoni, Mutomo and Mutha. The climate in the county is semi-arid, 40 % of the area of the county are considered suitable for agriculture, only 1% is covered by forest.

Economy

75 % of the population lives off the land, in 2005 there lived 69 % of people in Kitui County below the poverty line. The population lives on livestock, mainly cattle, sheep and goats are bred. A smaller proportion of people living on poultry farming and beekeeping. Primarily corn, beans, sorghum, beans, millet and cassava are grown for their own consumption on the agricultural land. For trade cotton, tobacco, mangoes, bananas, sweet potatoes, eggplant, okra and spinach are grown.

Infrastructure

2002, the County, with its 75 km of asphalt road, nearly 270 km of roads were gravelled, the remainder consisting of earth roads, which are sometimes impassable during the rainy season. In the district in 2002 there were 66 phone booths and 16 post offices, also eleven financial institutions. Outside the capital, Kitui there is no access to electricity, the energy demand is met mainly with wood and coal. Almost 90 % of households in the region have no direct access to clean water.

Health service

Kitui County has a total of 92 health care facilities, including four hospitals and five nursing homes. The Kitui County Hospital as the largest hospital has 200 beds. The infant mortality rate in the county is high, 9.8 % of children die before their 5th birthday. The doctor-patient ratio is 1:16.000. The HIV / AIDS incidence is 14%.