James Mwitari

• Doctor of Public Health
• Senior Research Fellow at Kenya Medical Research Institute

Background. Over 70% of Africans rely on polluting sources of energy for cooking. There is a paucity of epidemiological evidence on the burden of cooking-fuel-related burns (CRBs) among women and children in low- and middle-income countries. Objectives. To estimate the prevalence of CRBs and association with main fuel choice among primary cooks and...

With a wide range of stoves and appliances available in the ever-evolving Kenyan cooking market, it is important to understand which options are the most cost, time and energy efficient to use. This information can help households to make more informed decisions about their energy use and policy makers to better understand which solutions to promot...

Air pollution is a critical global public health and environmental concern, leading to over 6.7 million premature deaths annually, disproportionately affecting low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the use of polluting fuels for cooking remains widespread. Incorporating perceptions of air pollution is argued as vital for developing effecti...

Links between cooking with polluting fuels (e.g. wood and charcoal), air pollution and health in domestic settings are well-established. However, few studies have been conducted in schools that rely on such fuels for catering. This study is the first investigation of air pollution, cooking, and health in schools in Nairobi, Kenya. We carried out an...

With a wide range of stoves and appliances available in the ever-evolving Kenyan cooking market, it is important to understand which options are the most cost, time and energy-efficient to use. This information can help households to make more informed decisions about their energy use and policy makers to better understand which solutions to promot...

Energy market turmoil due to the Russian-Ukrainian war increased global fuel/food prices. While risks to energy and food security have been suggested, little research has documented impacts for the most vulnerable. During September-October 2022, surveys were administered to 701 households using pay-as-you-go liquefied petroleum gas (PAYG LPG) for c...

Polluting fuels such as biomass and kerosene are used for cooking by approximately 85% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) despite the well-known associated negative health effects. Many governments across SSA are aiming to scale up the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a cleaner-burning fuel in terms of black carbon and fine particul...

Background Scaling up clean cooking is a priority to address the substantial health burden from exposure to household air pollution resulting from burning of polluting fuels. The costs of cooking equipment and fuel, as well as cooking behaviors, may present barriers to adoption and sustained use of clean cooking. This paper reports novel qualitativ...

Introduction Few studies have examined gendered benefits of transitioning from polluting cooking fuels (e.g. charcoal, kerosene) to cleaner fuels (e.g. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)). This study investigates pathways between adoption of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) LPG and women’s empowerment in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods Female (N=304) and male (N=44) prima...

Universal access to cleaner cooking fuels (including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)) is a key target of Sustainable Development Goal 7. Currently, approximately 40 million Kenyans rely on polluting cooking fuels (e.g. charcoal, wood). While the Kenyan government aims to rapidly scale up use of LPG for cooking by 2030, COVID-19 restrictions and a 16%...

In July 2021 the Kenyan government imposed VAT at 16% on domestic use of LPG. New research conducted by CLEAN-Air(Africa) partners, University of Liverpool and Moi University, and University College London has highlighted the negative impacts of associated price increases on the fuel on Kenya’s clean cooking agenda. The research team have partnered...

Background Household Air Pollution is perceived to increase the risk of developing acute respiratory infection (ARI) specifically among young children. A cohort study involving 430 children (228 exposed to Household Air Pollution and 202 non-exposed to indoor air pollution) was conducted to explore the association of Household Air Pollution upon re...

The Kenyan Community Health Strategy (CHS), launched in June 2006 as one of the main strategies for achieving the goals in Kenya's second National Health Sector Strategic Plan, is incurring slow progress, partly attributed to financial constraints. Few studies have been undertaken to estimate the resource requirements for establishing community uni...

Introduction: Financing health care services is a global problem for all governments even among the developed countries. The problem is even more magnified in low and middle income countries with struggling economies and competing demands for financial needs; which has adversely affected the delivery of health care services to citizens. In Kenya, r...

Background: The Community Health Strategy was launched in Kenya in 2006 as a modality for social transformation to reversing the worsening health indicators. One of the human resources for health at community level introduced by the strategy to bridge the linkages between community and health facilities was Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs...

Background: Community based disease surveillance (CBDS) may be defined as an active process of community involvement in identification, reporting, responding to and monitoring diseases and public health events of concern in the community. The scope of CBS is limited to systematic continuous collection of health data on events and diseases guided by...

The study aimedat determining whether the AntihelminthicSumithrin® (Phenothrin) Lotion, code-named S-1555 lotion throughout the study, was more efficacious than contemporary treatment of embedded jigger lesions with a solution of potassium permanganate. It was an explanatory random clinical trial among highly selected jigger patients recruited from...

This longitudinal study presents the joint effects of a COVID-19 community lockdown on household energy and food security in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Randomly administered surveys were completed from December 2019-March 2020 before community lockdown (n = 474) and repeated in April 2020 during lock-down (n = 194). Nearly universal...

Approximately 2.8 billion people rely on polluting fuels (e.g. wood, kerosene) for cooking. With affordability being a key access barrier to clean cooking fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), pay-as-you-go (PAYG) LPG smart meter technology may help resource-poor households adopt LPG by allowing incremental fuel pay-ments. To understand the...

Approximately 2.8 billion people rely on polluting cooking fuels (e.g. wood, kerosene), exposing them to health-damaging household air pollution. A key access barrier to clean cooking fuels (e.g. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)) is affordability. By enabling households to pay in small increments, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) LPG could help promote clean cook...

Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Cooking Fuel Use Patterns, Income and Food Security in an Informal Settlement in Nairobi, Kenya M. Shupler, J. Mwitari, A. Gohole, R. Anderson de Cuevas, E. Puzzolo, I. Cukic, E. Nix, and D. Pope Abstract Background: Approximately 2.5 billion individuals use solid fuels (e.g. wood, coal) for cooking, exposing the...

A COVID-19 lockdown may impact household fuel use and food security for ~700 million sub-Saharan Africans who rely on polluting fuels (e.g. wood, kerosene) for household energy and typically work in the informal economy. In an informal settlement in Nairobi, surveys administered before (n=474) and after (n=194) a mandatory COVID-19-related communit...

This public private partnership framework will immensely contribute in sound management of Kenya’s hazardous medical waste in a sustainable manner that protects public health and the Environment. Further, the framework will support government health-care reform policy, thereby conserving limited resources. It will also improve health-care facilitie...

This HCWM M&E framework provides the roadmap for measuring achievements in reducing risks posed to human health and the environment. Moreover, it will actualize the government’s direction on Universal Health Coverage from environmental safeguard point; It will document means by which the health sector, particularly healthcare care waste management,...

Maternal and neonatal mortality are unacceptably high in developing countries. Essential nutrition interventions contribute to reducing this mortality burden, although nutrition is poorly integrated into health systems. Universal health coverage is an essential prerequisite to decreasing mortality indices. However, provision and utilization of nutr...

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the role of monetary incentives on motivation and retention of Community Health Workers in Kibwezi Sub-county. Methods: It was a cross-sectional comparative study in which retention of community health workers receiving monetary incentives and those not receiving monetary incentives was compared. Data w...

Globally, the reported attrition rates of Community Health Workers (CHWs) vary between 3.2% and 77% with high rates being associated with volunteer CHWs. In Kenya, retention rate is estimated at 67% while in Makueni it varies between 50% and 98%. The success of community programmes is often hampered by low retention rates which affects the sustaina...

Introduction: Community Health Workers (CHWs) were recognized as the cornerstone of comprehensive during the Alma Ata conference in 1978. CHWs were defined as being able to serve communities in the remote areas and to assist in meeting the unmet demand for health care services across countries. The CHWs would improve access to health care services...

and the Ministry of Health (MoH) to assess both the extent and context of research evidence use in the formulation of policies at the Ministry of Health in Kenya. A team of eight researchers drawn from both AFIDEP and MoH were involved in the design, data collection, analysis and write-up of the report. The study was conducted as part of the SECURE...

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in children are common in Kenya and are experienced in all parts of the country yet the risk factors are unclear. We conducted this study to determine the contributions of metrological products on development of ARTIs in young children. Our approach to this study entailed determining trends of ARTIs with v...

Background: Tungiasis is one of neglected health problem in impoverished communities in the affected countries. Tungiasis carry a significant threat to people who live in the Mount Kenya Region, Western Kenya, the Rift Valley and coastal regions of Kenya. This study aimed to explore perceptions of jigger infestation and association between socio-de...

This report presents the capacity assessment of staff from the Division of Community Health Services (DCHS) in relation to Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the community Health strategy at the national level. The Ministry of Health recognized the community as the missing interface in healthcare delivery way back in 2006 when it developed the fir...

Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Republic of Kenya. National Communication Strategy for Community Health Services. Nairobi, Kenya: Government of Kenya; June 2012

This training module is meant to strengthen the capacity of CHVs to improve nutrition at the community level. The Government of Kenya is committed to supporting community health initiatives and accelerating the achievement of the KHSS&IP goals, MDGs and providing support to Vision 2030. The training manual for CHVs is organised in Modules which sho...

this Curriculum was developed by key stakeholders who work at the community level and who are aware that Community Health Committees (CHCs) are of crucial importance for the success of both CHWs and CHEWs. This Curriculum formed the basis for developing the Trainers' Manual, out which was derived the take-home Handbook for Community Health Committe...

This Curriculum was developed by key stakeholders who work at the community level and who are aware that Community Health Committees (CHCs) are of crucial importance for the success of both CHWs and CHEWs. This Curriculum formed the basis for developing the Trainers' Manual, out which was derived the take-home Handbook for Community Health Committe...