Health · 60 calls daily · ArchiveKenya Has No Femicide Count — 60 Calls a Day, No DatabaseAired August 8, 2026 at 11:31 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00Kenya has no national femicide database,0:02so the exact number of victims is0:04unknown. That data vacuum is shaping0:06every other response, DW News reports.0:09Without a national count, there is no0:11official total. In that vacuum, [music]0:13activists describe 2024 as the worst0:15year for femicide, and background0:17reporting is left to fill the [music]0:18gaps. The United Nations estimates that0:20globally, every 10 minutes a woman or0:22girl is killed because of her [music]0:23gender, via the United Nations, via DW0:26News, placing Kenya's uncounted deaths0:28against a [music] worldwide pattern.0:29What is counted shows the scale. For0:32December 2025 alone, Kenya [music]0:34police data logged through DW News0:36recorded over 500 sexual offenses, more0:38than 400 defilements, 72 rapes of adult0:41women, and [music] three femicides with0:42men aged 20 to 29 the top offender age0:45group. Africa Data Hub recorded more0:47than seven women [music] killed on0:49average every month in Kenya in 2025,0:51most stabbed and mostly by husbands.0:53Against that monthly average, one0:55hotline logged 60 cases in a single day.0:58In 2025, [music]0:59Kenya's president appointed a task force1:01that traveled the country and delivered1:0337 recommendations, [music]1:04including recognizing femicide as a1:06distinct crime and declaring1:08gender-based violence, including1:09femicide, a national [music] crisis, via1:12DW News. The report notes no public1:14response from the president and no1:16implementation. [music]1:17Against that, the Kenya Ministry of1:19Gender launched a 90-day campaign1:21targeting communities worst affected by1:23gender-based [music] violence, but it1:24made no mention of femicide, via the1:26Kenya Ministry of Gender, via DW News.1:29The immediate [music] consequence is1:30landing on under-resourced frontline1:32groups. Usikimya, co-founded [music] by1:34Ruth Bang and Jerry Magwi, received 601:36cases in a single day on its toll-free1:38line, but lacks enough staff to handle1:40the volume because of limited resources,1:42[music] via the founders, via DW News.1:44With no database to count the dead, a1:46campaign that does not name the crime,1:48[music] and 37 recommendations unacted1:50on, the count still does not exist while1:52hotlines like Usikimya's are1:53overwhelmed.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗