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Nairobi Programme
Prof. Bob Snow
Principal Investigator
Collaborations
Videos
Bio
Bob is the longest serving Oxford scientist at the Kenyan Programme. Bob’s career began in The Gambia where he undertook the first clinical trials of insecticide treated nets (ITN) [1984-1988]. Following a move to Kenya, he established the framework to undertake linked community-based mortality and hospital admission trials at Kilifi and directed one of four large-scale, community-randomized mortality trials of ITN in Africa [1989-1993]. Subsequently he investigated the possible long-term effects of reduced parasite exposure on the clinical epidemiology of malaria to understand the consequences of sustained ITN use and/or its interrupted use on disease burdens [1994-2003]. This was used as a basis to establish new epidemiological methods to define the mortality, morbidity and consequential burdens posed by malaria in Africa [1995-1999] and clinical disease globally [2005]. As part of new ways to articulate disease burdens he started the Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA) project with colleagues in South Africa [1996], which served as the model for a global initiative founded by Bob in Nairobi, known as the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) [2005]. Bob has been supported by the Wellcome Trust since 1992 under three Senior and three Principal Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Science. https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/news/115-years-of-malaria-in-africa-interview https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/bob-snow-malaria-control-in-africa
See moreCurrent Work
Since 2010, he has led a science-to-policy initiative, funded by DFID, UK, to ensure the best possible use of epidemiological data to design malaria control programmes in 22 African countries. In 2015, this work extended to support countries in the Arabian Peninsula as a collaboration with WHO’s EMR office in Cairo; focusing on countries in conflict, entering phases of malaria elimination, or aiming to prevent malaria re-introduction.
Recent publications
Impact of introducing RTS,S/AS01(E) malaria vaccine on mortality in young children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi: an observational evaluation of a cluster-randomised implementation programme.
Mwapasa, V.
Asante, K. P.
Milligan, P.
Akech, S.
Oduro, A.
Mathanga, D. P.
Fogelson, A.
Kwambai, T. K.
Hamel, M. J.
Kapito-Tembo, A.
Gyan, T.
Westercamp, N.
Okine, R. N. A.
Moore, K. A.
Pellaux-Furrer, E.
Stanley, C. C.
Ansong, D.
Kariuki, S.
Njuguna, P.
Mvalo, T.
Welaga, P.
Otieno, L.
Snell, P.
Schellenberg, D.
Chimala, A.
Afari, E. A.
Bejon, P.
Maleta, K.
Agbenyega, T.
Snow, R. W.
Zulu, M.
Odei-Lartey, E.
Chinkhumba, J.
Samuels, A. M.
Lancet, (2026). 407:1796-1808
Missed at birth: a cross-sectional analysis of national determinants and subnational changes in birth registration coverage in Kenya, using 2014 and 2022 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data.
Robert, B. N.
Macharia, P. M.
Chepkurui, V.
Kamau, J.
Snow, R. W.
Li, Z.
Okiro, E. A.
BMJ Public Health, (2026). 4:e003850
Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years.
Colucci, M.
Leonardi, M.
Blinkhorn, J.
Irish, S. R.
Padilla-Iglesias, C.
Kaboth-Bar, S.
Gosling, W. D.
Snow, R. W.
Manica, A.
Scerri, E. M. L.
Sci Adv, (2026). 12:eaea2316
A scoping review of antimalarial drug resistance markers in Kenya (1987-2022): toward a National Surveillance Framework and Data Repository.
Wamae, K.
Magudha, J.
Asiimwe, E.
Kimani, K.
Kandie, R.
Keitany, K.
Snow, R. W.
Ochola-Oyier, L. I.
Malar J, (2025). 24:413
Spatially varying relationships between birth registration and influencing factors in Kenya, using a suite of geographically weighted regressions.
Robert, B. N.
Macharia, P. M.
Lessani, M. N.
Chepkurui, V.
Kamau, J.
Snow, R. W.
Li, Z.
Okiro, E. A.
Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol, (2025). 55:100764
Prof. Bob Snow
Principal Investigator
Biography
Bob is the longest serving Oxford scientist at the Kenyan Programme. Bob’s career began in The Gambia where he undertook the first clinical trials of insecticide treated nets (ITN) [1984-1988]. Following a move to Kenya, he established the framework to undertake linked community-based mortality and hospital admission trials at Kilifi and directed one of four large-scale, community-randomized mortality trials of ITN in Africa [1989-1993]. Subsequently he investigated the possible long-term effects of reduced parasite exposure on the clinical epidemiology of malaria to understand the consequences of sustained ITN use and/or its interrupted use on disease burdens [1994-2003]. This was used as a basis to establish new epidemiological methods to define the mortality, morbidity and consequential burdens posed by malaria in Africa [1995-1999] and clinical disease globally [2005]. As part of new ways to articulate disease burdens he started the Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA) project with colleagues in South Africa [1996], which served as the model for a global initiative founded by Bob in Nairobi, known as the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) [2005]. Bob has been supported by the Wellcome Trust since 1992 under three Senior and three Principal Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Science. https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/news/115-years-of-malaria-in-africa-interview https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/bob-snow-malaria-control-in-africa
See moreCurrent Work
Since 2010, he has led a science-to-policy initiative, funded by DFID, UK, to ensure the best possible use of epidemiological data to design malaria control programmes in 22 African countries. In 2015, this work extended to support countries in the Arabian Peninsula as a collaboration with WHO’s EMR office in Cairo; focusing on countries in conflict, entering phases of malaria elimination, or aiming to prevent malaria re-introduction.
Collaborations
Project Research
No active details yet
Videos
Impact of introducing RTS,S/AS01(E) malaria vaccine on mortality in young children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi: an observational evaluation of a cluster-randomised implementation programme.
Mwapasa, V.
Asante, K. P.
Milligan, P.
Akech, S.
Oduro, A.
Mathanga, D. P.
Fogelson, A.
Kwambai, T. K.
Hamel, M. J.
Kapito-Tembo, A.
Gyan, T.
Westercamp, N.
Okine, R. N. A.
Moore, K. A.
Pellaux-Furrer, E.
Stanley, C. C.
Ansong, D.
Kariuki, S.
Njuguna, P.
Mvalo, T.
Welaga, P.
Otieno, L.
Snell, P.
Schellenberg, D.
Chimala, A.
Afari, E. A.
Bejon, P.
Maleta, K.
Agbenyega, T.
Snow, R. W.
Zulu, M.
Odei-Lartey, E.
Chinkhumba, J.
Samuels, A. M.
Lancet, (2026). 407:1796-1808
Missed at birth: a cross-sectional analysis of national determinants and subnational changes in birth registration coverage in Kenya, using 2014 and 2022 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data.
Robert, B. N.
Macharia, P. M.
Chepkurui, V.
Kamau, J.
Snow, R. W.
Li, Z.
Okiro, E. A.
BMJ Public Health, (2026). 4:e003850
Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years.
Colucci, M.
Leonardi, M.
Blinkhorn, J.
Irish, S. R.
Padilla-Iglesias, C.
Kaboth-Bar, S.
Gosling, W. D.
Snow, R. W.
Manica, A.
Scerri, E. M. L.
Sci Adv, (2026). 12:eaea2316
A scoping review of antimalarial drug resistance markers in Kenya (1987-2022): toward a National Surveillance Framework and Data Repository.
Wamae, K.
Magudha, J.
Asiimwe, E.
Kimani, K.
Kandie, R.
Keitany, K.
Snow, R. W.
Ochola-Oyier, L. I.
Malar J, (2025). 24:413
Spatially varying relationships between birth registration and influencing factors in Kenya, using a suite of geographically weighted regressions.
Robert, B. N.
Macharia, P. M.
Lessani, M. N.
Chepkurui, V.
Kamau, J.
Snow, R. W.
Li, Z.
Okiro, E. A.
Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol, (2025). 55:100764
Prof. Bob Snow 9
Principal Investigator
Biography
Bob is the longest serving Oxford scientist at the Kenyan Programme. Bob’s career began in The Gambia where he undertook the first clinical trials of insecticide treated nets (ITN) [1984-1988]. Following a move to Kenya, he established the framework to undertake linked community-based mortality and hospital admission trials at Kilifi and directed one of four large-scale, community-randomized mortality trials of ITN in Africa [1989-1993]. Subsequently he investigated the possible long-term effects of reduced parasite exposure on the clinical epidemiology of malaria to understand the consequences of sustained ITN use and/or its interrupted use on disease burdens [1994-2003]. This was used as a basis to establish new epidemiological methods to define the mortality, morbidity and consequential burdens posed by malaria in Africa [1995-1999] and clinical disease globally [2005]. As part of new ways to articulate disease burdens he started the Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA) project with colleagues in South Africa [1996], which served as the model for a global initiative founded by Bob in Nairobi, known as the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) [2005]. Bob has been supported by the Wellcome Trust since 1992 under three Senior and three Principal Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Science. https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/news/115-years-of-malaria-in-africa-interview https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/bob-snow-malaria-control-in-africa