Blog: CDC in Kenya

Restoring Health for Kenyans with HIV: Komarock Clinic, Nairobi

October 2, 2012 1:00 pm ET - U.S. CDC-Kenya Office

Signs outside Komarock Clinic, in Nairobi, Kenya, let the community know they can be tested and treated for HIV and TB.

Ask Rose Simiyu, a nurse trained in HIV care and treatment who works at the Eastern Deanery AIDS Relief Program’s Komarock Clinic in Nairobi, Kenya, what she like most about her job and she has an immediate response: watching her patients regain their health in as little as two months of starting the antiretroviral therapy (ART) that the clinic provides free of charge to community members living with HIV.

“We make sure they have the correct diagnoses and then provide the care and treatment they need to be stable and to take care of their families,” she adds.

Our Research in Kenya: Finding Ways to Improve HIV Treatment Access and Outcomes

July 26th, 2012 12:01 pm ET - Jane Mwangi, U.S. CDC-Kenya Office

This week, as scientists and public health partners meet at the International AIDS Society (AIDS 2012) meeting in Washington, D.C., one of the key challenges for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is to continue to increase the numbers of individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) while making sure that those who are currently on ART get quality care.

Increasing access to improved clinical management in resource-limited settings and identifying persons on ART whose treatment is beginning to fail is a key area where CDC, one of the key U.S. agencies implementing PEPFAR, brings its public health research and evaluation expertise to the table.

Today is the Day

June 20th, 2012 11:00 am ET - U.S. CDC-Kenya Office

Amina with her two children Mohamed and Sundes. 12 years after fleeing her homeland of Somalia, she is finally going to put down roots and settle into a permanent home.

CDC-Kenya’s Refugee Health Program – part of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine – primarily works with refugees under consideration for resettlement in the United States. The program collaborates with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other partners to improve the health of refugees. The program also works extensively with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to oversee the medical screening of U.S.-bound refugees to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

It is a chilly morning in Nairobi, Kenya, but adults and children alike are bundled up and waiting patiently with their suitcases. They are shuffled through the line to weigh and tag their luggage – all their worldly possessions – as they anxiously await their chance to board a plane and begin a new life in the United States. These families are used to waiting; most fled their homes in the 1990s and have been waiting year after year for the opportunity to resettle and make a permanent home again.

The Man Who Calls the Shots: Tabu Collins

April 24th, 2012 7:24 pm ET - U.S. CDC-Kenya Office

Kenyan medical epidemiologist Tamu Collins standing in a storage room filled with tetanus vaccine

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Tabu Collins, a Medical Epidemiologist for the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (MOPHS). Tabu told me about his journey to becoming an epidemiologist and the public health challenges and successes in Kenya. Every day he sees the power of vaccines, not only to save but also to transform lives, giving children in Kenya an opportunity to grow up healthy, go to school, and live long productive lives.

Tabu grew up on the border of Nyanza and Western provinces. He can still recall the waves of measles, cholera, and typhoid that would strike his village. “It was something we learned to live with,” he told me. Tabu speaks of how as a child he and his friends always had coughs and many ended up in the hospital, rehabilitation centers, or worse. “Looking back, I know it could have been avoided.”

Solving a Malaria Mystery

April 25, 2012 5:00 pm ET - U.S. CDC-Kenya Office

(left) Dr Simon Kariuki, (right) Dr Meghna Desai

In late 2007, researchers at the KEMRI/CDC Field Research Station in Nyanza province in the western part of Kenya noticed a worrisome change in the rate of malaria infections. Malaria in this region had been declining since the 1980’s but was now rising again for reasons that were not clear.

To look at why this was happening we start thirty-two years ago, at the beginning of collaboration between CDC and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), when a research facility was built in Nyanza province to focus primarily on malaria research. Located on the coast of Lake Victoria, Nyanza province was, and still is, the hottest area in Kenya for malaria infections. And eventually the Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) was created which precisely monitors the health and socio-economic well-being of 225,000 people in this area every 4 months.

Our Work in Kenya Reflects Our Global Commitment

March 15, 2012, 6:00 pm ET - U.S. CDC Kenya Office

Community members who participate in disease surveillance projects that help prioritize interventions and save lives welcomed Dr. Frieden into their homes.

In January I had the privilege of traveling to Kenya to see first-hand some of the extraordinary international work done by CDC. During my stay, I was invited into homes of people who, everyday, simply by the circumstances of their surroundings, are dealing with significant challenges to maintain their health.

In rural western Kenya, I met with a grandfather who had lost six of his children from preventable causes; I met a woman in Kibera who faces the ongoing challenges of poverty of that urban slum.

Tuberculosis: The world cannot afford another phase of neglect

February 14th, 2012, 5:00 pm ET - Kevin Cain, U.S. CDC Kenya Office
Reposted from the Global Health Frontline News “Notes from the field blog”

A view of the clinic in Kisumu, Kenya

Cutting edge research is underway in Kisumu, Kenya, to find new ways to put an end to deaths from tuberculosis.

“My baby, whose name is Hope, was very ill and could not sit at 8 months of age. When she kept getting sicker, neighbors and friends contributed money to take me and my child to our rural home to await her death. Thanks to the DOT program and TB treatment, baby Hope is now strong and healthy. People still wonder what I did to her.”

Lillian and Baby Rose: An HIV-Positive Mother Gets Help From CDC

October 5th, 2011, 6:00 pm ET - U.S. CDC Kenya Office

Lillian with her first born, Emmanuel, and Eric with Rose

Lillian, a 20-year-old mom living in rural Nyanza province, first met Dr. Abraham Katana during her first antenatal visit at the Siaya District Hospital. She was five months pregnant and just learning she was HIV-positive. Dr. Katana, the study coordinator for KEMRI/CDC’s Intermittent Preventive Treatment for malaria in Pregnancy (IPTp)-with Mefloquine study, encouraged her to be part of his malaria study because, as he put it, “The primary objective (of this study) is malaria prevention in HIV-positive pregnant women and we have committed to providing the best possible care to our participants, which includes HIV care.”

A Pharmacist Motivated by Inspirational Women

August 9th, 2011 4:43 pm ET - U.S. CDC Kenya Office

Fredrick Ochenge in the Tabitha clinic pharmacy

Fredrick Ochenge moves quickly and efficiently around Tabitha clinic's small pharmacy, filling up bottles, counting out pills, and chatting happily with everyone he encounters. When he calls a patient's name, they are met at the dispensary window by his wide smile and a warm greeting, as he carefully explains each medication's use, dose, and precautions. It is instantly clear to all who meet him: this is not your typical pharmacist.

For the last seven years, Ochenge has worked at the Tabitha clinic, flagship project of Carolina for Kibera, a non-profit working to affect positive change among the residents of Kibera, Africa's largest urban slum. Having joined the clinic during its early stages, Ochenge's institutional memory paints a picture of a thriving grassroots project: 'I have seen the clinic grow from a staff of two, to more than forty; from a one-room shanty to a beautiful building.' How Ochenge ended up in that 'beautiful building' is a story marked by tragedy and triumph, and the incredible influence of two inspirational women.

A Promising New Career in the Slums of Kibera

August 9th, 2011 2:28 pm ET - U.S. CDC Kenya Office

Kibera, in Nairobi, is one of Africa's largest slums.

It has been six years, but Kennedy Odero can still remember perfectly the day he first crossed paths with U.S. CDC in Kenya. 'I was attending a local church function, and I heard an announcement that the CDC was looking for people to train as community health workers,' recalls Odero. 'At the time, I had another job, but it was not utilizing my skills appropriately.'

A graduate of prestigious Moi University in western Kenya, Odero had completed undergraduate degrees in both Social Studies and Public Administration. Hoping to find a job he could feel passionate about, he relocated to Nairobi soon after graduation and moved in with relatives in Kibera, one of Africa's largest slums. He immediately began job-hunting throughout Kenya's sprawling metropolis, but months passed and the right opportunity still eluded him. He had no way of knowing that he would find his ideal career, not in some prosperous Nairobi locality, but in the slum neighborhood he now called home.