What we are doing

International Emerging Infections Program (IEIP)

Supports infectious diseases surveillance (PBIDS) in urban and rural sites throughout the East African region.

Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP)

FELTP trains Kenyan and east African public health leaders in epidemiology, biostatistics, state-of-the-art laboratory methods, surveillance, and outbreak response.

Integrated Human and Animal Health Program (IHAP)

IHAP enhances collaboration between human and animal health sectors, improving surveillance and diagnostic capacity of diseases like rabies and conducts research at the human-animal interface.

Diagnostics and Laboratory Systems Program (DLSP)

DLSP provides diagnostic testing for disease surveillance
and support for outbreak with KEMRI, MOH, and
regional partners.

Influenza Program

The Influenza Program works to analyze the distribution and burden of influenza in this region of Africa and how influenza relates to other respiratory pathogens.

Refugee Health Program (RHP)

Promotes and improves the health of US-bound refugees and immigrants and to prevent the importation of infectious diseases and other conditions of public health significance into the U.S. by these populations, conducts surveillance for diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory illnesses in Dadaab and Kakuma Refugee Camps, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

International Emergency Preparedness Team (IEPT)

Supports emergency medical services (EMS) in Kenya to support standardization of qualifications, equipment and other aspects of trauma care in Kenya.

Global Disease Detection

gdd researcher in the Lab In 1979 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) established a partnership called the KEMRI/CDC Research and Public Health Collaboration to focus on malaria research. The collaboration has expanded its mission and staffing to become a comprehensive research platform with projects and studies located throughout Kenya. KEMRI/CDC’s work now includes research on HIV, TB, emerging infections, neglected tropical diseases and other public health issues.
The collaboration includes support for HIV prevention and care programs and a state-of-the-art health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) and other population-based platforms to assess disease burden, disease outbreaks and health intervention impact in communities.

The Global Disease Detection (GDD) Division helps Kenya and the region detect and respond to serious public health threats like cholera, Ebola, influenza, Rift Valley fever, polio and typhoid among others.
GDD develops and integrates epidemiologic, laboratory, surveillance, veterinary, medical, and public health resources in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, the Ministry of Medical Services, and other partners.
Combining GDD programs through this Regional Center achieves greater effectiveness than stand-alone programs and also serves as a technical resource for surrounding countries in the areas of diagnostic testing, outbreak and emergency response.

Highlights

• Since 2004, GDD-Kenya has responded to 163 outbreaks in nine countries, providing diagnostic and epidemiologic support

• Detection of greater than 40 novel (locally and internationally) pathogens, including the discovery of two new pathogens: Nodavirus and novel species of Bartonella and Rickettsia

• Capability to detect more that 40 human and animals (zoonotic) pathogens, with serologic, molecular, and culture-based diagnostics

• Graduation of 60 future global health leaders, representing 4 countries, from the two-year FELTP program

• Build capacity and provide support for regional outbreak response activities; recent outbreaks include Dengue fever in Somalia and NE Kenya, and rabies (human and animal) in W. Kenya.

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What we’re doing

Developing New Tools for Control

Evaluating the safety and effecacy of a new TB vaccine and a new TB drug to see if they work better than current tools, and we are evaluating new TB diagnostic tests to see how well they work.

Building Collaborations

Working in partnerships with local, national, and international colleagues builds on our collective knowledge of TB. These alliances can speed up
the learning curve to find the answers needed to eliminate TB.

KEMRI/CDC collaborates with the Ministry of Health, for example, to strengthen their TB control program by helping them answer important research questions and helping to make sure answers are translated into policy and practice. The TB branch also collaborates with other KEMRI/CDC branches helping to answer the TB component to other diseases like HIV or schistosomiasis.

Laboratory Services

The KEMRI/CDC TB laboratory is now a biosafety level 3 (BSL 3) laboratory, making it capable of doing sophisticated TB testing, like testing for drug resistance. As of January 2012, it started supporting the Ministry of Health by doing tests for drug resistant TB for all patients who need this test in Nyanza province. This will help these patients get the diagnostic testing results they need more quickly.