KWTRP hosted journalists from South Africa, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya who visited the programme for a tour that aimed to enrich the journalists\u2019 training experience as part of a science communication training workshop for journalists in Mombasa. The team interacted with Dr Eunice Nduati who presented on IAVI work and they toured the research labs. The training will empower the journalists to communicate scientific concepts accurately and effectively to a broader audience.
KWTRP hosted the Improving Hypertension Control in Rural Africa (IHCoR) NIHR Global Health Research Group meeting dubbed the Kilifi Dialogues. The meeting brought together more than 30 leading researchers from various parts of the world to discuss the landscape of hypertension research in sub-Saharan Africa.
This year\u2019s School Leavers Attachment Scheme (SLAS) cohort have successfully concluded. The cohort included 9 students drawn from secondary schools in Kilifi who scored highest in aptitude tests and interviews. The 3-month attachment, which started from 1st March to 31st May, involved two-week long rotations in the HSRE, Neuro, ICT, Labs, Wards and ED departments and bi-weekly tutorials.
KWTRP and HSC researchers attended the International Maternal and Newborn Health Conference 8-11 May 2023 in Capetown, South Africa. This conference is held biannually to track progress made towards achieving maternal, newborn, and child health SDG targets as we get to 2030.
KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) has put in place the Gender, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy to provide guidelines to be followed in the management of the Programme human resources to ensure consistency and compliance with the labour laws in the application of all policies across the Programme.
Researchers at the Kemri Wellcome Trust in collaboration with colleagues from various modelling groups and the World Health Organization have designed a framework to guide the use of mathematical modelling in evidence-based policy decision making.
We are delighted to announce that four of our researchers have been awarded the Associate Professor title, in recognition of their research achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine.
'Just Transitions to mitigate antimicrobial resistance' is a multidisciplinary social science and humanities programme funded by the British Academy. Led by Dr Sonia Lewycka and Professor Phaik Yeong Cheah, its team of 20 researchers will convene global and regional dialogues, engaging with key stakeholders to co-create equitable and sustainable solutions to manage antimicrobial resistance.
The KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme hosted various stakeholders for a discussion on Human Resource for Health in Kenya. The meeting discussions centered on themes around health workforce production, the impact of health workforce on quality of care and health workforce governance and management.
The Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System, housed within the Epidemiology and Demography Department of the KEMRI Kilifi Wellcome Trust Research Programme, celebrated two decades of its existence. The event was an opportunity for the team to reflect on its values, strengths and connect with the future.
Health Economics Research Unit, based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, in collaboration with Africa Health Technology Assessment Network and Africa Health Economics Association, hosted a webinar on African country experiences with institutionalizing Health Technology Assessment. This approach to evidence-based priority setting provides a mechanism for making choices about purchasing decisions in the health system.
Researchers from the Nuffield Department of Medicine\u2019s KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and the University of Oxford have recently reported promising results from a phase 1 clinical trial of their ChAdOx1 RVF vaccine against Rift Valley fever in humans.
KWTRP hosted the 2nd Advanced workshop for Bioinformatics workflows between 27th -31st March with 28 participants from Kenya, Uganda, DRC-Congo, Malawi and Nigeria, with support from NGS Academy for the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative.
The NeoSep1 trial team hosted a site initiation visit which included a training conducted by the Trial Management Group that includes St. George\u2019s Hospital in London and the UK Medical Research Council\u2019s Clinical Trial Unit. NeoSep1 trial is a randomised controlled trial to improve antibiotic treatment for babies.
The Science for Africa Foundation launched the Developing Excellence in Leadership Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa II) on 14th March 2023 in Nairobi Kenya. DELTAS Africa II brings together 14 grantees from across the continent including The Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL), based at the KEMRI \u2013 Wellcome Trust Research Programme.
Women have made significant contribution in research despite the numerous challenges they face. To celebrate the women and girls in science we asked some women at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research programme to share their journey in research, their achievements, and a word of advice to fellow women in science.
KWTRP hosted the launch of the VAnguard research project. The NIHR Funded Project Builds Knowledge-base on Factors Influencing Vaccine Impact among Communities in Kenya and Uganda. The project aims to strengthen collaborations between national and international stakeholders in the identification of social and biological factors that impair vaccine impact in African communities, to develop integrated strategies and recommendations to optimize vaccine impact, and to contribute to health equity in Africa. The launch concurrently took place in Kenya and Uganda from 28th \u2013 30th November 2022.
We are delighted to announce that four of our researchers have been awarded the title of Professor, in recognition of their research achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.
Nurses are central players in the provision of quality health care globally. Although neonatal units have not been at the epicenter of the current COVID-19 pandemic, challenges have also been raised for neonatal nurses. KWTRP share their COVID-19 related experiences and challenges, highlight strategies they used to manage the challenges and show how elements of the communication skills and emotional competence course helped them cope.
By May 2022, 69% of individuals residing within the Kilifi Health and Demographic System (HDSS) and 91% residing\r\nwithin the Nairobi Urban HDSS had evidence of an immune response to COVID-19 resulting from natural infection and/or vaccination, i.e., anti-spike IgG antibodies.
Community Engagement (CE) is a critical aspect of health research because of its potential to make\r\nresearch more ethical, relevant, and well implemented. Many research programmes now aim to incorporate\r\nCE activities at all stages of their work. This KWTRP brief summarises key findings from a malaria trials, and provides an illustration of how CE works more generally. It highlights facilitators and challenges to engagement, and the ethical issues that are particularly relevant in LMIC settings with under resourced health systems.
Our heartfelt congratulations to Melissa Kapulu, Francis Ndungu and Emelda Okiro from KWTRP, and to Hoa Thi Ngo and Sophie Yacoub from OUCRU who have been awarded Associate Professorships
Kathryn Maitland, Professor of Paediatric Tropical Infectious Diseases and based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen\u2019s Birthday Honours
The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme today released the results of its latest modelling on COVID-19 vaccine scale-up within the country. The analysis found that the country\u2019s COVID-19 vaccination campaign can achieve greater value for money if it focuses on the elderly, rather than a strategy that pursues scaling up vaccines to the whole population.
Dr Emelda Okiro has been awarded the prestigious Wellcome Senior Research Fellowship. Emelda\u2019s fellowship is the first African Senior Research Fellowship awarded in the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme and among the less than five SRFs awarded to researchers in Africa.
Young children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia who become sick or malnourished continue to have a high risk of death in the six months after being hospitalized, according to findings by researchers in the Childhood Acute Illness & Nutrition (CHAIN) Network. Appearing in The Lancet Global Health, the study of 3,101 acutely ill children at nine hospitals in six countries across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia found that 48% of the 350 deaths recorded occurred within six months after discharge from hospital.
Monitoring and Evaluation helps us keep track of our public engagement activities and outcomes. KEMRI -Wellcome Trust recently completed a report detailing our experiences and learning.
Results from a clinical trial completed in Kenya have determined that a safe dose of the antibiotic, fosfomycin, can be used to treat babies with neonatal sepsis. This is a significant development, as there are very few antibiotics specifically licensed to treat multidrug-resistant infections in babies. This research was lead by Dr Christina Obiero and Professor Jay Berkley.
Royal Society 2021 Africa Prize lecture from Professor George Warimwe. More than 70% of emerging infectious diseases (including viruses) are zoonotic, meaning they are acquired from animals, with some causing serious illness and death in humans as well as the animal host. But, what if we could immunise both humans and animals with the same vaccine?
A downloadable resource for educators, health & research professionals to help develop young peoples\u2019 understanding of AMR and positive actions they can take to mitigate it.
Peter Macharia is a spatial epidemiologist and a postdoc interested in disease mapping, healthcare access and mapping population vulnerabilities at KEMRI Wellcome. He received the RSTMH 2021 Emerging Leader Award, which recognises significant contributions in leadership, mentoring and capacity building in those who are early in their careers.
Following the meeting of the Medical Sciences Divisional Committee to consider applications for the conferral of the title of Associate Professor, we are pleased to announce that Rashan Haniffa, Dorcas Kamuya, Isabella Oyier, Le Van Tan and Timothy Walker have been awarded the title Associate Professor
For the first time in more than two decades, a team from the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and University of Oxford have quantified the risk of children suffering severe outcomes from malaria - which can have a devastating impact on tens of thousands of children who are admitted to hospital with severe malaria every year.
The Royal Society Africa Prize 2021 is awarded to Professor George Warimwe for his work on zoonoses vaccine development, capacity building in Africa, and his innovative research proposal. This Prize recognises research scientists based in Africa who are making an innovative contribution to the sciences.
A team of KWTRP scientists carried out a major genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Kenya during the early phase of the epidemic (March \u2013 July 2020). Researchers provide evidence for at least 35-40 unique introductions of the virus in the coast region \u2013 specifically the epidemic that was largely observed in Mombasa County.
About one-third of children diagnosed with severe malaria may instead have an alternative cause of illness, but simple blood tests could help researchers distinguish between the two and speed up research on new treatments.
Although improvements in child survival globally have been remarkable, 5.2 million children still died in 2019, over half of these in sub-Saharan Africa. A range of factors likely include disparities in childhood immunisations, supplements and breastfeeding practices, antenatal care, skilled birth attendants working in healthcare facilities. Kenya needs to prioritise its child care plans, based on localities and populations with the greatest need. Two KWTRP studies give granular insights into the situation in regions across Kenya.
Interview with KWTRP Malaria immunologist Dr Francis Ndungu. Francis grew up in central Kenya where malaria is not prevalent but is interested in understanding of how semi-immune individuals control malaria parasite growth and the associated inflammation symptoms. His current work is in understanding how we develop immunity to Malaria. He is also interested in the potential translation of that knowledge in the development of effective malaria vaccines.
The International Girl\u2019s in ICT day is commemorated to create awareness on the critical need for more girls and women in the ICT sector, encourage and inspire young girls to actively pursue careers in STEM as well as engage the community to promote collaboration through partnerships. Kathreen Wafula, an ICT Support Technician in Kilifi, joins a strong team of techies and is one of the 4 women in the department.
KWTRP initial community and public engagement strategy was developed in 2005 with three goals: build understanding and trust between researchers and communities, enhance ethical conduct of research, and disseminate research findings to promote uptake into policy. Our programme has since developed and now includes engagement with media, radio programme, media engagement workshops, various meetings and forums, and a fully-fledged school engagement programme that was awarded the 2019 Oxford VC Public Engagement with Research Award.
The responsiveness of a health system is one of its goals, alongside fairness in financing and outcomes. Listening and responding to the public can make a health system stronger and fairer. However, responsiveness is likely to be undermined, especially for vulnerable and marginal populations, in periods of crises such as disease outbreaks. In the current COVID-19 crisis, there has been more focus on health system control interventions, with minimal consideration of community views. KWTRP colleagues in Kenya consider community engagement and citizens feedback channels, concerns raised by the public and how they were handled, and highlight lessons learned.
The World Health Organization and partners including the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme launched AHOP (African Health Observatory Platform), an online platform to promote the exchange of evidence and experience across countries in the African region. By working to foster evidence-informed decision-making in an endeavor to re-engineer health service delivery, the initiative is expected to drive countries\u2019 health system resilience efforts.
Kenya has joined the global efforts in search of an effective vaccine for COVID-19 with the start of a trial evaluating the ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019 Oxford coronavirus vaccine. Following the necessary approvals from regulators, as well as the national ministry of health, and Kilifi county, the first volunteers for the trial have recently received their vaccinations.
Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. To showcase our global research, the University launched a Global Research Map, highlighting areas of research we are conducting overseas.
Africa accounts for 17% of the global population but only 3.5% of the reported global COVID-19 deaths. In many African countries, transmission has been higher but severity and mortality much lower than originally predicted based on experience in China and Europe. Kevin Marsh and Moses Alobo argue that Africa\u2019s much younger population explains a very large part of the apparent difference. Some of the remaining gap is probably due to under reporting of events but there are a number of other plausible explanations, ranging from climatic differences, pre-existing immunity, genetic factors to behavioural differences.
Oxford University\u2019s LIFE project has launched a new set of app-based training scenarios that help healthcare workers in Africa safely manage and treat cases of children with suspected COVID-19
Epidemics and pandemics disproportionately affect populations with greater impacts on the most vulnerable and less resilient communities. Hence Kenya\u2019s response to the COVID-19 pandemic calls for more context adapted public health measures reflecting our improved understanding of who is the most vulnerable and their geographical location. This policy brief presents evidence on localized vulnerability indices to identify areas and people who require greater support while highlighting inequities to inform the COVID-19 response in Kenya.
What are the health and socio-economic impacts of physical distancing in African countries and how can they be mitigated? This work by Edwine Barasa and colleagues reviews the effects of physical distancing restrictions and recommends that African countries need to consider the broader net benefit of measures that they choose to implement and to adapt and localize their response to align with the contextual realities of the continent, and to optimize expected benefits of physical distancing, while minimizing the undesired impacts.
Policy makers are interested in practical steps to a more gender-equitable and transformative health system. A guide published by Research in Gender & Ethics aims to help policy makers adopt a gender lens in policy deliberations on health systems. In order to prompt reflections on how gender affects health systems, we include case studies from Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
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