A Kenyan research programme is one of 11 that have received Sh1.8 billion from the globally acclaimed USA National Institutes of Health to establish cutting-edge research centres for emerging diseases such as Covid-19.
Virology professor Kariuki Njenga, who is also a senior researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), will establish the Centre for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases-East and Central Africa (Creid-Eca), which will carry out studies on viruses such as the Rift Valley Fever and the coronavirus that causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome.
The USA’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will support the centres through an initial Sh1.8 billion in the first five years. The agency intends to spend Sh8.9 billion during that period.