HJFMRI in Kenya

A woman and child walk down a rural road

HJFMRI in Kenya

Since 2001, HJFMRI and research partners in Kenya have advanced a wide range of infectious disease surveillance and outbreak response research to study HIV, antimicrobial resistance, malaria drug resistance, influenza, enteric pathogens, acute febrile illness, Rift Valley fever, vector-borne illnesses, and other infectious diseases.

News & Updates

CASE STUDY: High hopes for the smallest patients

The CHAMPS data to action team, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, with support from the Kenya Medical Research Institute and HJFMRI in Kenya, recently conducted training for neonatal intensive care nurses on antenatal care approaches to improve outcomes for newborns.

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Mobile Clinic Delivers Quality Health Services to Remote Communities

Maurice is one of many who have benefited from PEPFAR’s promise to deliver quality healthcare in remote communities through a mobile clinic outreach program. Before the mobile clinic, members of Maurice’s community would have to travel to Tanzania by foot - an eight-day journey in territory inhabited by wild animals and warring clans, to receive health services. “Some people would die there, and it was hard,” Maurice says.

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Inauguration of Biosafety Level 3 Reference Laboratory and Molecular Laboratory at KEMRI/WRP CRC

Ahead of the October 20 Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kericho, Kenya’s Deputy President H.E. Rigathi Gachagua, EGH, visited the Kericho, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/ Walter Reed Project (WRP) Clinical Research Center (CRC), where he inaugurated the biosafety level 3 tuberculosis (TB) Reference Laboratory.

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From Stigma to Pride, A Family Saved by PEPFAR

In 2007, Joyce, David and their two children were featured on the cover of PEPFAR’s annual report to Congress, but their story about how PEPFAR transformed their lives began in 2005.

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Deborah’s Story of Resilience and Hope

Deborah is one of the oldest stories of PEPFAR’s impact in Kenya and is a true testament to the purpose and mission of PEPFAR. More than 20 years ago, Deborah was diagnosed with HIV. She says, “I stayed home for a long time, thinking that I wished the earth could open up and swallow me.”

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CASE STUDY: Deploying Entomology Surveillance Teams to Respond to Emerging Outbreaks

HJFMRI helped coordinate entomology surveillance teams to quickly gather data in a race against emerging dengue and yellow fever outbreaks in Kenya.

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CASE STUDY: HJFMRI Helps Provide Resources for Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling (MITS)

Infrastructure improvements and a first-of-its-kind resource for Kenya provide innovative solutions for disease and mortality testing in the field across a regional surveillance network.

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CASE STUDY: A Life Transformed by PEPFAR

In 2004, a 10-year-old girl's life was changed with help from PEPFAR, a journey that continues even today.

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Emerging Diseases

HJFMRI has collaborated with U.S. and Kenyan partners to conduct clinical trials for vaccines against emerging infectious disease threats including Ebola, COVID-19, polio, and others. HJFMRI also provides support to the U.S. DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance (GEIS) System, which supports and informs force health protection decision making while enhancing global health security through prevention, detection, and response to infectious disease threats.

HIV Research and PEPFAR

HJFMRI helps implement an international HIV vaccine research program in collaboration with the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) based in Kericho. In complement to research efforts, HJFMRI has been successfully implementing high-impact, comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programs under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Through its close partnerships with host-country Ministries of Health and Defense, academic institutions, and non-governmental agencies, HJFMRI maximizes impact of USG and private sector donor funding, ensuring contribution to the development of sustainable systems.

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Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS)

The CHAMPS Network was established to develop a long-term network of high-quality sites to collect robust, standardized longitudinal data with the ultimate goal of understanding and tracking preventable causes of childhood death globally. HJFMRI partners with several nonprofit and governmental organizations health surveillance capacity in Kisumu and Siaya Counties in Kenya to use CHAMPS data for public health action.

HJFMRI Regional Office

Through the HJFMRI Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya, HJFMRI provides management and administrative support to its international programs. HJFMRI hires host-country staff with regional expertise both for administrative oversight as well as technical execution. In addition to its Regional Office, HJFMRI opened the HJFMRI Western Kenya Office in the town of Kisumu in 2020 to better support the Government of Kenya and our partners in the region.

A woman in a lab coat writes in a binder at a desk

Kericho Clinical Research Center

HJF and HJFMRI provide critical support for the Kericho Clinical Research Center, which became the first laboratory in Kenya to be accredited by the College of American Pathologists. The lab also receives support from KEMRI, HJF and the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP). The Kericho CRC has conducted Phase 1 to 4 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and IND/FDA-regulated studies.