The CLEAN-Air (Africa) team at Moi University held a dissemination engagement event on 16th September 2025 to share findings from a recently concluded clinical and community research on the causes and trends of burn injuries over the past five years in Western Kenya. This is part of the hidden burdens from household energy research programme being conducted by the partnership.
The meeting included county leadership, Health Records Information Officers (HRIOs), nurses, and clinicians. The study evaluated 3,013 burns records over a 5 year period – 2,361 within the community level and 652 from hospital records. The meeting provided feedback to key stakeholders and clinicians, reviewing our findings, and identifying strategies for better surveillance and prevention.
Key Findings
– The quality of routine burns surveillance needs strengthening – there were notable data gaps particularly in primary care. It is also evident that there is significant under-reporting of burns in the region affecting effective policy making concerning prevention and management.
-Hot liquids and steam are the leading causes of burns, often leading to significant injury.
-Children are the most affected demographic, with cooking a common feature of source of burns injury.
-The significant issue of burns from energy related violence (domestic and vigilante justice) was highlighted from the dataset
Achievements
– Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital has adopted the WHO burns registry form used by @CLEAN-Air(Africa), integrated into its electronic reporting system for burns surveillance, currently under pilot testing.
– County leadership has expressed commitment to a multi-disciplinary approach towards improving burn surveillance.
Emerging Issues & Way Forward
– We are exploring the potential for development of a comprehensive burns registry for the Western Kenya region.
– We have recommended scaling up adoption of the WHO burns registry across all health facilities.
– We are seeking further stakeholder and policy-level engagement to strengthen burn injury reporting.
– We recommend capacity building for community healthcare workers, who are the primary implementers of burn injury reporting.
This initiative marks an important step towards strengthening evidence-based decision-making and improving prevention, management, and surveillance of burns in Western Kenya.
