IVI and Kenya
Member State Relations
Host Country Agreement
On 26 November 2024, the Government of Kenya and the International Vaccine Institute signed a memorandum of understanding to establish and operationalize IVI’s country and AVEC Africa project office in Kenya.
The AVEC Africa, Advancing Vaccine End-to-End Capabilities in Africa, initiative was launched at the 37th African Union Summit on 18 February 2024 during a side event co-hosted by the Government of Kenya and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The initiative focuses on accelerating vaccine research, development, and manufacturing across the continent by connecting and enhancing African institutions and expertise across the vaccine value chain.
For more information on the IVI-Kenya Country Office, click here.
Leadership at IVI
Global Council
Kenya is represented on the Global Council by Dr. Wesley Ronoh, Chief Executive Officer, Kenya BioVax Institute. The appointed alternate is Prof. Elijah Martim Songok, Acting Director General, Kenya Medical Research Institute.
Ongoing Collaboration
Phase II Trial of the Cholera Conjugate Vaccine in Kenya
IVI is currently conducting a trial in partnership with the KAVI Institute of Clinical Research to evaluate a novel cholera conjugate vaccine. The findings will build important data on the safety and immunogenicity of this new vaccine in children in an endemic setting. IVI is also advancing next-generation cholera vaccines and expanding global oral cholera vaccine (OCV) manufacturing capacity through technology transfer partnerships, while generating evidence to support effective cholera prevention and control in endemic countries.
Train-the-Trainer Program on Regulatory Dossier Analysis
This program aims to strengthen regional regulatory convergence for vaccines and biologics in East African Community countries through a blended learning and mentorship model, developing a cadre of regional regulatory trainers capable of conducting high-quality dossier reviews aligned with international standards.
The program fosters regional regulatory convergence across EAC countries by combining advanced regulatory science, adult learning methodologies, and south–south collaboration. It supports sustainability through institutional licensing and long-term mentorship by IVI and partners. This program is implemented in collaboration with the East African Community National Regulatory Authorities of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, South Sudan, and Zanzibar.
Capacity Building in Clinical Trials and Qualitative Research in Support of the HPV Vaccination in Infants and Toddlers Trial (SHIELD)
Global uptake of HPV vaccine remains limited. In many countries with low HPV coverage, routine EPI coverage at nine and 15 months exceeds 85%. Delivering HPV vaccine to older infants and toddlers through the routine immunization schedule could therefore be less resource-intensive, reach higher coverage with greater equity, and carry less stigma.
This trial tests that approach through a two-stage evaluation of the safety, immunogenicity, and persistence of immunity of HPV vaccines given to young children. Stage 2 is conducted in collaboration with the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme.
Strengthening Research and Innovation Partnerships
IVI is collaborating with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kenya-AIST) to advance bio-vaccine research for infectious diseases in Africa.
The partnership is intended to strengthen collaboration between Kenya and Korea, identify new opportunities in vaccine research and development, and support longer-term health security in Kenya and across Africa.
IVI supports Kenya’s plans to produce vaccines locally through a feasibility study for a US$250 million vaccine manufacturing facility at Konza Technopolis, financed by Korea Eximbank and aligned with the Government’s vaccine manufacturing priorities.
In December 2020, IVI and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) signed an MoU to explore potential collaboration in vaccine self sufficiency in Kenya.
Previous Collaboration
Extended analyses of past datasets
In 2024, the Kenya Medical Research Institute collaborated with IVI on an extended analysis of past datasets taking place over two years. The project aimed to provide valuable public health information on cholera, typhoid fever, and rotavirus published in peer-reviewed journals. Also known as EAD III, the project built expertise among junior scientists in epidemiology, focusing on statistical analyses and manuscript writing using study data.
Typhoid Surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa Program (TSAP)
From 2010 to 2014, IVI’s Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa Program (TSAP) obtained comparable incidence data on typhoid fever and invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease in sub-Saharan Africa through standardized surveillance in ten countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania).
In Kenya, TSAP ran from 2012 to 2013, at a site in the Kibera division of Nairobi, Kenya, where a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) operated by the KEMRI–Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Kenya Collaboration. At this site in Kibera, an active, population-based surveillance component was used, with home visits every two weeks to all HDSS households to screen for febrile patients and encourage visits to the designated sentinel health facility, where free treatment was offered.
Each TSAP site conducted passive surveillance for bloodstream infections among febrile patients to isolate and identify aerobic bacteria from the patients’ blood. Healthcare surveys were conducted to adjust population denominators in incidence calculations for differing healthcare utilization patterns and improve comparability of incidence rates across sites. TSAP results indicated that enteric fever caused by Salmonella Typhi and non-typhoidal Salmonella are significant problems in Africa and that multi-drug resistance may limit appropriate treatment options.
Along with its new disease burden discoveries, TSAP and its collaborators strengthened local surveillance capacities at multiple sites across sub-Saharan Africa, creating a system that has improved bacterial disease diagnostics, disease surveillance, reporting, and analysis systems in the region.