The NeoSep1 trial team hosted a site initiation visit which included a training conducted by the Trial Management Group that includes St. George’s Hospital in London and the UK Medical Research Council’s Clinical Trial Unit. NeoSep1 trial is a randomised controlled trial to improve antibiotic treatment for babies.

Congratulations Dr Nchafatso Obonyo on winning the Africa Top 40 Under 40 award in the Science Category! The award is the culmination of work that started and continues to be collaboratively supported by KWTRP/IDeAL and the Critical Care Research Group as well as the Mbale Clinical Research Unit in Mbale, Uganda.

The Science for Africa Foundation (SFA 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 – Wellcome Trust Research Programme. The programme funded by Wellcome, and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the UK is conceptualized as a health research leadership capacity-building programme integrating a major component of social sciences and humanities and climate sciences in a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to address a broad spectrum of Africa’s developmental challenges. The programme will provide an enabling environment for the emergence of a new cohort of globally competitive African research scientists and leaders on the continent who will be trained through collaborative supervision and mentorship mostly at Masters, PhD, Post-Doctoral and Senior Research Fellows to address a broad spectrum of Africa’s health and other sustainable development challenges.

We held our quarterly review meetings with our Coastal radio fan clubs from Mombasa, Kaloleni and Kilifi. Our review meetings seek to get feedback from members of the public on the Jukwaa la Utafiti (Swahili for platform for research) radio program; What has worked/not worked, what they have learnt from the radio shows and ideas on how we can improve this engagement.  The feedback received informs our next steps and planning for our subsequent shows. Incorporating voices from the community is important since community members are key stakeholders in our engagement strategy. The Jukwaa la Utafiti radio program is a platform that allows our researchers to engage with the public around their research work and health issues. The 1 hour radio show airs in 6 radio stations: Radio Maisha, Baraka FM, Msenangu FM, Sauti ya Pwani FM, SBS Radio and Spice FM. Radio fan clubs are listeners and fans of a particular radio station who form groups based on their geographical locations. The fan clubs are formed independently by radio listeners themselves. KWTRP has been linked to the fans by the radio station team. The Coastal listeners are drawn from both urban and rural parts of Kilifi and Mombasa.

Congratulations to IDeAL Pwani University Masters students on their awards. The students were awarded an MSc degree in Immunology and Bioinformatics. They include Lynn Fwambah, Hannah Kimingi, Lewis Murugu, Cecillia Wechessa for the Masters in Immunology, while Jane Njeri was awarded a Master’s in bioinformatics.

The IBAMI2 study hosted stakeholders in Health and Nutrition from Kilifi County for an intervention brainstorming session. The Individualized Breastfeeding Support for Acutely ill Malnourished Infants under 6months (IBAMI-2) study aims to provide breastfeeding support after discharge from hospital to improve growth and development of malnourished infants recovering from serious illness. The aim of the workshop was to brainstorm on an appropriate Breastfeeding support intervention Package to support the mother child post hospital discharge.

Congratulations to Jonathan Karisa who was awarded the Young Investigators Award for his presentation on entomological surveillance of main malaria vectors on the Kenyan coast during the just completed KASH conference. Mercy Tuwei was awarded best session presentation in the vector biology session for her work on MALDI-TOF MS for mosquito surveillance. Congratulations also goes to Leonard Ndwiga who scooped the Best Oral Presentation for theMalaria Scientific Session. 15 researchers from the Programme also attended and participated in the13th Annual KASH conference as guest speakers, oral and poster presenters, and symposium conveners. This included a team from Entomology, the Africa Health Observatory Platform (AHOP) team convened a knowledge management symposium that brought together researchers, policy makers and practitioners in rethinking strategic research-for-health throughpartnerships, innovation, evidence generation, and knowledge sharing in post-pandemic recovery era.

Following completion of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS) in March 2022, the PCVIS team donated Health equipment used to implement the Kilifi Electronic Immunization Registry (KEIR) to the County hospital. KEIR was implemented as part of PCVIS and involved electronic data capture of childhood immunizations at health facilities located within the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System area. The KWTRP staff used the opportunity to also share findings from the study with members of the Kilifi County Health Management Team.

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. Rebecca Njuguna Health Economist Growing up I was exposed to the importance of both health and education and the impact they had on the quality of life. I decided to pursue a career in science because I wanted to contribute to the improvement of people’s lives. Looking back, my decision to pursue a degree in Applied Statistics was timely because this provided requisite knowledge and skills needed to kickstart a career in research.  Currently, my work as a health economist generally entails understanding how healthcare resources are used and distributed. The biggest challenge as a woman in research would be maintaining the motivation to keep going despite obstacles faced in my research. However, I am fortunate to have very supportive colleagues and family who always encourage me along the way. Having many women in research who have gone ahead of me and achieved great things always serves as an important encouragement to me. Women and girls should seek out challenges that are both challenging and daring. Find a friend to go on this journey with you and make a commitment to your companion so that you can go further together. Angela Moturi GIS research assistant It was a deliberate choice to join science with the exact field of science having evolved with time. My work now deals with the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in population health research. My recent source of pride is that I carried out the first harmonization of Kenya’s national health facility databases that incorporates all public and private health facilities and their geographic locations. This filled a tremendous gap in understanding health facility distribution and will go a long way in other studies of where health services are available and understanding unmet needs Mentorship has played a significant role in my career. I have had several formal and informal mentors along the way. When I first got started in GIS, I realized the field was largely male-dominated and I felt a little out of my depth. But I wanted to pursue a career in it so I sought out other women already in the field who offered me advice and a platform to explore different aspects of the field to find what inspired me. There is room enough for more women in science and we need all the diverse perspectives to create a future we want to live in. You don’t have to be an expert to feel confident in reaching out, the most important thing I’ve found is to approach life with questions and often you may be surprised by the answers. Siti Mohamed Wande Clinical trial Monitor As a child, I admired the nurses’ uniform and I fell in love with nursing. Little

The Clinical Information Network team hosted a series of stakeholder engagement meetings. The meetings include a Training of Trainers meeting for the RESPECT team as well as a meeting to discuss the Harness Innovation in Global Health for Quality Care (HIGH-Q). The objective of the HIGH-Q meeting is to discuss research evaluation and feedback.

2022 was an eventful year, please see a summary of the Programme highlights here 2022 Overview.pdf

The KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme hosted a 3-day workshop focused on developing a roadmap to strengthen modelling for policy in Low-and Middle-income countries (#LMICs). The workshop brought together experts from different parts of the world for this collaborative roadmap development activity.The research team was led by Dr. Jacquie Oliwa  who presented the empirical findings from the project, while the workshop participants were engaged in discussions to supplement the finding with experiential knowledge. By the end of the workshop participants consolidated ideas and built consensus for a draft roadmap which will be soon shared.

We 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 – 30th November 2022.

We hosted the first Mendelian randomization conference in Africa organized by KEMRI- Wellcome Trust Research Programme and the University of Bristol. The 5-day conference which was attended by 24 participants from Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, aimed at building capacity in genomic epidemiology using mendelian randomization for scientists across Africa.

We hosted a delegation from Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) led by the CEO Dr. Richard Hatchett who paid us a courtesy visit. The team was interested in learning more about ongoing activities at KEMRI- Wellcome Trust Research Programme and our robust contribution to Kenya’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We hosted Radio Maisha and Spice Fm radio teams for an open day and training on KWTRP research work. This culminated with a live on location broadcast at KWTRP for the launch of our radio programmes on both stations. The live broadcast, which aired from 6am -12 Noon, featured interviews with our researchers on epilepsy, mental health, Sickle cell, a former schools engagement programme student and 2 community members who discussed the role of KEMRI Community Representatives and the impact of our research work in the community. You can watch the interviews here https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=B0UGDJQzoQ4

Programme members from Kilifi and Nairobi attended the Standard Chartered Marathon 2022 in Nairobi. The team actively participated in 42km, 21km and 5km distances.

Did you know that 1 unit of blood could save up to 4 lives? KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme Blood Drive Team wishes to thank everyone who turned up to donate blood during October blood donation exercise. 38 units of blood was donated. Special thanks to our colleagues from KEMRI Management who were visiting and found time to donate as well. We also want to laud Sophie Uyoga and Munga Mwachiro for their continuous efforts in supporting this initiative. Nyinyi ni Mashujaa!