The Ministry of Health has launched an expanded Polio Laboratory at the Centre for Virus Research (CVR), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), which is expected to serve four countries.
The launching was confirmed by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale who confirmed that it will be primarily used for polio diagnostics and surveillance in Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Comoros.
According to Duale, the lab will also reduce the country’s reliance on external help in genomic sequencing, which is the process of reading and understanding the order of the chemical bases in an organism’s DNA, during potential disease outbreaks of other diseases such as Mpox, measles, rubella, and enteric viruses.
“This lab will provide our scientists in KEMRI with a platform for innovation and research, and it will turn Kenya into its ambitious programme to be a continental health science lab,” Duale said.
