Research trends, hotspots, and thematic evolution in scoliosis and osteoporosis: a bibliometric mapping review.

As members of the allied-health professional community, speech-language therapists (SLTs) support adults and children who face communication and swallowing difficulties in various settings. Currently, in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, and Kenya in particular, there is a scarcity of information regarding the structure of the SLT profession and the practices of SLTs (Alighieri et al. ; Wylie et al. ). To fully understand this newly emerging profession of speech-language therapy in Kenya, it is crucial to understand the characteristics of Kenyan SLTs and their roles when providing rehabilitative services (Wylie et al. ). The population of Kenya is rapidly growing, with 53 million people reported in 2022 (The World Bank ). An estimated 2.2% of the Kenyan population (aged 5 years and older) were reported to have some form of a disability (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics [KNBS] ), and 12% of this group had a communication impairment (KNBS ). Other separate studies have indicated that approximately 30% – 50% of their sample groups of children in East Africa have a disability (Hartley et al. ; Mung’ala-Odera et al. ), but due to the limited sample size of these studies, these figures cannot be generalised to the Kenyan population. However, the above studies all focused on communication disorders, and there is currently no consolidated data available on swallowing disorders in Kenya (Jayes et al. ). Given the challenges of screening for communication and swallowing disorders in a low-resource context of the developing world, the true prevalence of these conditions is likely higher than reported (Wylie et al. ). The suggested high prevalence of individuals with communication and swallowing disorders would indicate the need for appropriate and widespread rehabilitation services, including speech-language therapy (Alighieri et al. ; Staley et al. ). There continues to be insufficient information on the number of SLTs in Kenya. Fagan and Jacobs () led one of the few workforce studies conducted in the SSA region and reported three SLTs, equating to 0.009 SLTs per 100 000 people in Kenya. A follow-up study showed an increase to six SLTs, equating to 0.034 per 100 000 SLTs people (Mulwafu et al. ). The Kenya Health Professions Oversight Authority (KHPOA) is the mandated regulatory body for SLTs in Kenya; however, a publicly accessible record of the number of SLTs is not currently available (KHPOA ). At the time of writing this article, the Association of Speech-Language Therapists Kenya (ASLTK), an informal professional group, reported 28 SLTs currently qualified and practising in the country (ASLTK ), which corresponds to a ratio of 0.05 SLTs per 100 000 people for a population of approximately 53 million (The World Bank ). Comparing this to another SSA region, Pillay et al. () reported that there are 2643 speech-language therapy providing professionals (SLTs and dual-qualified SLT-Audiologists) in South Africa, representing 4.6 SLTs per 100 000 people and a closer professional-to-patient ratio.