By Joshua Isaac
Over two thousand people lost their lives on Kenyan roads in just six months this year (from January to July 7, 2024), with over 10,166 others nursing injuries from an estimated 11,502 crashes, according to the George Njao-led National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).
Still, Africa, with only 15% of the global population and owning three percent of the worldwide vehicle fleet, accounts for the highest road crash fatalities despite a drop globally, according to the WHO Africa Region Road Safety Report 2023.
During the report’s launch in July this year, Dr. Abdourahmane Diallo, Kenya’s WHO representative, urged countries to revamp transport infrastructure, retrain motorists, and promote safety education for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists to reduce fatalities.
For every road crash death, four injuries are reported in Kenya, according to Dr. Benjamin Wachira, executive director of the Emergency Medicine Kenya Foundation (EMKF), and even more, Kenya lacks a proper system that allows for follow-up to these victims.
This can only change if consistent follow-up mechanisms for road crash victims are fostered. Essentially, a lot of the data we get is about those who died in crashes. Based on the NTSA data, every time death is reported, there are many people injured.
According to Dr. Wachira, the focus has always been on those who die. Few talk about the injured. “Did they get the emergency care they needed? Did they survive? Or did they go ahead and die on the line? Or again, maybe they suffered permanent disability,” he questions.
Notably, there seems to be a disconnect between the data from law enforcers and other key stakeholders, like medical practitioners.
Speaking at the road safety reporting workshop organized by Science Africa in collaboration with the WHO, Dr. Wachira pointed out that we don’t have a trauma registry that helps track patients’ pasts and even what happens to them after discharge.
Even more, Kenya lacks a standard data collection system for trauma cases, which greatly impacts data accuracy efforts. In addition, the country has a limited number of traumas. As per the EMKF records, Kenya has approximately 216 public emergency departments operating across all 47 counties.
“We cannot follow up and tell what happened to who and when. And that is why the best they will tell us who was involved in the crash, who died and who were injured, but unfortunately, what happened to them later is never reported,” Wachira says.
A more vigorous approach is needed to address this issue of data harmonization to ensure subsequent check-ins on road crash victims.
Dr. Wachira holds to the need for an urgent roundtable to discuss this issue, stating, “There is that whole discussion that needs to happen in the development of trauma registries to be able to capture these data more accurately. To see how they can intervene to provide the best care for those who survive these crashes.”
Bright Oywaya, Road Safety Advocacy Coordinator, Kenya for the Global Road Safety Partnership in Kenya, opines that “Africa is doing poorly and needs to focus as far as road safety is concerned.”
According to Oywaya, road injuries have caused many families to lag in poverty and deprived incomes since pedestrians, cyclists, and users of two- and three-wheeler vehicles bear the highest burden of road traffic fatalities.
Predominantly, the report shows that road traffic deaths affect men during their most reproductive years of life, as 70% of deaths occur among them, and over half occur between the age of 15–64 years.
“African countries need to work together to end road crashes,” she urges.
