By Lenah Bosibori
A new study has revealed that children in Kenya are being put at risk due to weak diagnostic systems in hospitals, with life-threatening infections often going undetected and fueling antibiotic resistance.
The study, conducted between 2017 and 2021 at a referral hospital in Kenya, reviewed records of 1,608 children admitted with suspected infections. Researchers found that gastroenteritis, bacterial pneumonia, and sepsis were among the most common illnesses echoing global evidence that these remain leading killers of children, especially in under-immunized and malnourished populations.
“Safe care starts with strong diagnostics,” said Dr. Veronicah Chuchu, the study’s lead author. “Without them, children’s lives hang in the balance. Every child deserves safe, effective care from the very start.”
Further, the findings exposed deep gaps in care indicating that only 40% of children had samples taken for laboratory testing, and only 17% of those underwent full antibiotic sensitivity testing, the gold standard for guiding treatment.
Alarmingly, over 70% of the tested bacteria were resistant to multiple antibiotics, while nearly 30% were extensively drug-resistant, leaving doctors with limited treatment options. Children under five and those repeatedly admitted were the most vulnerable.
One troubling discovery was that 86% of samples showed no bacteria at all. This, researchers said, could be due to children being given antibiotics before admission, poor or delayed sample collection, or faulty transport.
In such cases, doctors often resorted to broad-spectrum antibiotics, a practice that may save lives in the short term but accelerates resistance, increases costs, and often ends in death.
These challenges are not unique to Kenya. Across sub-Saharan Africa, diagnostic services remain weak due to limited laboratory capacity, shortages of trained staff, and lack of essential supplies. As a result, treatment often begins without identifying the cause of infection, compromising patient safety.
The authors recommend urgent investment in laboratory infrastructure, training health workers, and making diagnostic testing central to treatment decisions. “Stronger labs and timely diagnostics must become as essential as stethoscopes in every hospital,” Dr. Chuchu emphasized.
The research was conducted by Washington State University Global Health Kenya and the Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (CEMA) at the University of Nairobi, with funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
This year’s World Patient Safety Day, marked on September 17 under the theme “Safe care for every newborn and every child”, underscores the urgency of such reforms. With antibiotic resistance ranked among the world’s top ten health threats, improving diagnostics may be the difference between life and death for Africa’s most vulnerable children.