CDC/KEMRI

The KEMRI/CDC Research and Public Health Collaboration is currently one of the largest collaborations carrying out public health research in Kenya and one of KEMRI’s and the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) main partners. However, it is amazing to note that 30 years ago, the collaboration began in two small rooms located in Kisumu District Hospital and the Kenyatta National hospital with the help of Dr. Harisson Spencer. When 30 year old Dr. Harrison, then an employee with CDC came to Kenya in 1979, to begin the collaboration with the newly created KEMRI, he did not know that 30 years later the organization would have grown to such a great level. A medical officer with CDC’s Bureau of Tropical Diseases Dr. Harisson first arrived in Nairobi in a bid to start a research station with KEMRI mainly focusing on malaria prevention, treatment, and control. The time, which he says was one of the most enjoyable in his life, began what has now become one of the greatest investments in the history of public health research in Kenya. Over the years, there have been enormous changes within the collaboration. From one staff in 1979, KEMRI/CDC now employs over 1200 employees and from one program: malaria, there are now six main health branches within the collaboration each with numerous sub programs. The level of KEMRI/CDC infrastructure at the Nairobi office, at the Field Research Station at Kisumu and elsewhere has grown significantly.