In a step designed to deepen the country’s capacity to forestall polio and other epidemic threats, the Ministry of Health has launched an expanded Polio Laboratory at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) headquarters in Nairobi.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, who officiated the launch on Tuesday, said that the new facility will not only advance genomic sequencing locally but will also have a positive impact on health security in the region.
For years, officials have had to send samples to laboratories abroad to get the results, and in the meantime, the people in the affected areas were at risk. Duale emphasized, by pointing out that apart from tracing poliovirus, the new laboratory will also extend its capacity to monitor and respond to infections which are Mpox, measles, rubella, and Ebola, among others.
The Minister pointed out that beyond the purpose of diagnostics, the hospital will offer various training courses and research activities for young scientists in Kenya to nurture local expertise in infectious disease surveillance and early detection.
Additionally, he pledged that the government would allocate more resources to KEMRI to enable it to discharge the mandate of a health security pillar in the sub-region effectively.
The extension of the laboratory is referred to as a landmark in the Kenyan efforts towards access to a timely response to outbreaks, and Kenya can then be a stand-in for the affected neighboring countries.