Adapting Longstanding Public Health Collaborations Between Government of Kenya and CDC Kenya in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2021

Overview

Journal Emerg Infect Dis

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2022 Dec 11

PMID 36502403

Authors

Amy Herman-Roloff

Rashid Aman

Taraz Samandari

Kadondi Kasera

Gideon O Emukule

Patrick Amoth

Tai-Ho Chen

Jackton Kisivuli

Herman Weyenga

Elizabeth Hunsperger

Clayton Onyango

Bonventure Juma

Peninah Munyua

Daniel Wako

Victor Akelo

Davies Kimanga

Linus Ndegwa

Ahmed Abade Mohamed

Peter Okello

Samuel Kariuki

Kevin M De Cock

Marc Bulterys

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Kenya's Ministry of Health (MOH) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Kenya (CDC Kenya) have maintained a 40-year partnership during which measures were implemented to prevent, detect, and respond to disease threats. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the MOH and CDC Kenya rapidly responded to mitigate disease impact on Kenya's 52 million residents. We describe activities undertaken jointly by the MOH and CDC Kenya that lessened the effects of COVID-19 during 5 epidemic waves from March through December 2021. Activities included establishing national and county-level emergency operations centers and implementing workforce development and deployment, infection prevention and control training, laboratory diagnostic advancement, enhanced surveillance, and information management. The COVID-19 pandemic provided fresh impetus for the government of Kenya to establish a national public health institute, launched in January 2022, to consolidate its public health activities and counter COVID-19 and future infectious, vaccine-preventable, and emerging zoonotic diseases.

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