About us

Several key principles run through the work of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme

• To carry out research to highest international scientific and ethical standards on major causes of morbidity and mortality in Africa.
• To build strong and sustainable internationally competitive, national and regional research capacity.
• To work in a way that facilitiates integration and cross fertilization of scientific disciplines.
• To conduct intervention research and basic research in parallel.
• To have a direct input to local and international health policy

First and foremost is the commitment to internationally competitive research. The programme has developed a core group of productive researchers who hold around £25 million of competitively awarded grants and contribute high-quality papers to the scientific literature.

The Programme is committed to capacity strengthening within Kenya and the East African region. Research priorities in Kenya need to be established by Kenya's own scientific research infrastructure, driven by the specifics of its healthcare needs and medical realities. The Programme is acting as a centre of excellence where promising African researchers can work within a strong scientific environment, forging their own links with the international scientific community. Through collaborations and partnerships within the East African region the programme seeks to support the development of a stronger regional research base.

All work is designed to generate useful information that can inform the delivery of healthcare within existing structures. More broadly, the Programme aims to gather insights that could inform the delivery of medical care across sub-Saharan Africa.