Individual’s daily behaviour and intergenerational mixing in different social contexts of Kenya

Abstract Which are the characteristics of contact patterns in diverse social contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, and which types of individuals and daily behaviours may play a pivotal role in infection transmission to the most vulnerable, such as older adults? We address these questions using novel survey data on social contacts and time use from a sample of 1407 individuals from rural, urban, and slum settings in Kenya. In the rural setting, we observed the highest number of daily social contacts (11.56, SD = 0.23) and the highest share of intergenerational mixing with older adults (7.5% vs. around 4% in the urban settings). Intergenerational mixing with older adults was mainly reported by individuals spending their day mostly in the general community (around 8%) or at home (5.1%), rather than at work (1.5%) or at school (3.6%). These results are essential to define effective interventions to control infection transmission in the African context.