title: Childhood accidents in an urban community in Kenya.
abstract: A retrospective study was conducted over a twenty-month period from March 1991 to October 1992. The purpose of the study was to determine the types and causes of domestic accidents/injuries in the city of Nairobi. A total of 9,648 case files were perused and out of this figure 52% or 5009 records belonged to persons aged below 18 years. The male:female ratio was 1.6:1. Burns were identified as the most prevalent type of injury (37%) followed by cuts/wounds (24.9%) and body swellings (4.9%). The main causes of these accidents were: fire, falls inside and outside the house and cutting implements. These results are only an index to a problem that has been given little prominence in the field of public health.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Centre, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi.
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Mwaura
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Katsivo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amuyunzu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Muniu
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014504:Urban Health; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy