Microsoft Word 02Preface doc

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Kenya Medical Research Institute: KEMRI 
JICA started project-type technical cooperation on infectious diseases control, namely, 
the Communicable Disease Research and Control Project, in cooperation with the 
Division of Vector Borne Diseases (DVBD), the Ministry of Health, and the National 
Public Health Laboratory Services in March 1979, based on a request from the 
Government of Kenya. The KEMRI has been the main partner for JICA projects since 
its main facilities were completed with Japanese Grant Aid in 1981.  JICA has 
continuously implemented project-type technical cooperation with the KEMRI, and 
there were seven projects implemented up to 2004. The Government of Japan further 
supported the development of the facilities and equipment of the KEMRI through the 
implementation of grant aid projects, including the Project for Improvement of the 
Kenya Medical Research Institute in the Republic of Kenya in 1997.     
This series of JICA cooperation activities have aimed at strengthening the research 
capacity of the KEMRI.    Human resources development in the health sector has formed 
an additional objective of JICA’s cooperation, and workshops/seminars aimed at 
disseminating the research outputs to other medical organizations were started in 1990.   
A series of JICA technical cooperation activities targeted diarrhoea, acute respiratory 
infection (ARI), hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, schistosomiasis, and filariasis. 
A characteristic of JICA’s cooperation with the KEMRI is that the activities have 
concentrated on two main functions - blood screening and parasite control.  Blood 
screening activities, in particular, enabled the test kits developed by the KEMRI to be 
disseminated nationwide through coordinated research and training activities.  In 
addition, as a research institute and a WHO collaborating center, the KEMRI has greatly 
contributed to infectious diseases control in Africa as well serving as an educational and 
training institute.   
Under a series of hepatitis control activities conducted by the KEMRI, hepatitis control 
has been implemented with the focus on protection from hepatitis B through JICA 
support for epidemical surveys and the development and diffusion of testing kits for 
hepatitis B, which has brought about a significant improvement in the screening rate of 
the blood supply, and the enhancement the blood-testing techniques through training.  

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Moreover, the KEMRI disseminates diagnostic and experimental techniques by 
conducting third country training on blood screening (hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS).     
On the other hand, as with the NMIMR, the KEMRI had also acquired sufficient 
capacity as a research institute.    In view of the fact that cooperation between JICA and 
the KEMRI is proceeding to the next stage, JICA should consider the validity of 
cooperation that has the primary aim of technology transfer. It is, therefore, necessary to 
establish a new cooperation framework for the KEMRI with the activities consisting of 
mainly collaborative research with foreign institutes. 
Through a series of analyses based on the positioning, functions, and effects of JICA 
cooperation with the KEMRI, the expected role of the KEMRI in the future can be 
summarized as follows in terms three functions.  (1) To strengthen the functions of 
infectious diseases control comprising research, human resources development, and 
contribution to health services through the research and development, production, and 
dissemination of several blood testing kits, such as an HIV/AIDS testing kit that is low 
in price and can be produced in Kenya, (2) To serve as a center for human resources 
development as an executing agency for the in-service training of medical personnel in 
Ghana and third country training for the surrounding countries, and to establish and 
expand epidemiological databases on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and 
expand its reference functions, such as information transmission