10/05/2026
In rural communities, the major cause of burns in children are open cooking fires and ground level stoves. Many households cook on 3-stone fires or charcoal stoves placed on the floor. Toddlers crawling or walking can easily knock over pots or fall into the fire.
The high risk age group is 1-3 years old because they are mobile but have no sense of danger, and their skin is thinner and more delicate, so burns tend to be deeper and occur at lower temperatures.
We see many instances of childhood burns at the hospital. Sometimes, these are minor, but unfortunately, it is not uncommon for patients to have severe and even life-threatening burns. This picture is of our nurse, David Kakuru, dressing wounds of a child who had been burnt by a pot of sauce at home.
