Doctors Report Increase in Childhood Asthma

Medical experts in Kenya are warning of a troubling rise in asthma symptoms among children, particularly in low-income urban settings where environmental triggers and poor health system capacity overlap. A recent study in Nairobi’s informal settlement of Mukuru found that children experience significantly higher rates of wheezing ( current wheeze ) and trouble breathing compared to peers in more affluent areas — yet they are less likely to have a formal asthma diagnosis.
Pediatricians are attributing much of this increase to environmental exposures. The same research links asthma symptoms in these children with pollutants such as vapours, dusts, gases, fumes, combined with household risk factors like indoor cooking using solid fuels, mosquito-coil smoke, and secondhand tobacco smoke. There is growing concern that without adequate recognition, many of these cases remain untreated.
Barriers to proper asthma management are not just environmental. According to a recent BMC Pediatrics qualitative study at a leading private hospital in Nairobi, children and caregivers face multiple challenges: poor adherence to medication, limited access to essential asthma drugs, trigger exposures at home and school, long wait times at clinics, and insufficient school-based support. Caregivers also reported myths and knowledge gaps about inhaler use, with many preferring syrups and misunderstanding the purpose of preventer medications.
Health professionals are now calling for urgent action: better training for frontline clinicians to improve diagnosis rates, broader access to affordable asthma medications, targeted education campaigns for families, and stronger policies to reduce environmental triggers — especially in informal settlements. Without these measures, the country risks allowing more children to suffer severe, unmanaged asthma.