CEMA-Africa

12/06/2026

🦠 remains a serious public health threat in the region. Since 15 May 2026, the outbreak in the DRC has recorded 635 cases and 127 deaths, while Uganda has reported 19 cases and 2 deaths. Although Kenya has not recorded any confirmed cases, Kenya and neighbouring countries remain at risk due to extensive regional connectivity and the movement of people and goods across borders.

To strengthen preparedness and support accurate public communication, the Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI), Ministry of Health, Kenya, FHI 360, and the Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (CEMA) convened a media sensitization forum on Ebola preparedness and response.

The forum aimed to strengthen collaboration with the media and enhance public awareness of Ebola preparedness and response measures.

Key messages from the forum include:
📌 Hon. Aden Duale EGH, Cabinet Secretary for Health:
"Preparedness should never be mistaken for panic. Preparedness is a demonstration of responsible leadership and proactive planning. The work government undertakes before a crisis occurs is often invisible, yet it is one of the most important responsibilities we have in protecting lives and safeguarding national security."

📌 Dr. Maureen Kamene Kimenye, Ag Director General, KNPHI:
"Strong infection prevention and control measures are critical to reducing the risk of disease transmission and ensuring the country remains prepared to respond effectively to potential outbreaks."

📌 Dr. Patrick Amoth, Director General for Health at Ministry of Health:
"Community engagement is central to ending outbreaks. By working closely with the media, we can ensure communities receive accurate information that empowers them to protect themselves and others."

📌 Dr. Loice Achieng Ombajo, Infectious Disease Specialist and co-director at CEMA:
"We need to help communities understand that disease control is not about ‘us versus them,’ but about working together to protect everyone. There is currently no evidence that Ebola spreads through airborne transmission, and communications should be careful to avoid suggesting otherwise. Accurate, evidence-based information is essential for building public trust and supporting effective outbreak response."

The forum highlighted a critical lesson: effective outbreak preparedness depends not only on strong surveillance and response systems, but also on accurate reporting, trusted communication, and evidence-informed decision-making. When every message matters, the media becomes a vital partner in protecting public health, helping translate scientific evidence into information that informs policy, guides public action, and strengthens outbreak preparedness.

10/06/2026

This week, key health and technology stakeholders around the world gathered in Istanbul, Turkey for the Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) annual meeting. The meeting provided a unique environment to develop international collaborations and reflect on the challenges faced in local and global systems. Additionally, the convening supported HTAi’s mission to promote the development, understanding and use of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) around the world as a means of fostering innovation and effective use of resources in health care.

Representing the secretariat for the Kenya’s Benefits Package and Tariffs Advisory Panel (BPTAP) were Dr. Tabitha Okech, Dr. Patricia Nyokabi, and Angela Langat from CEMA, alongside Dr. Valeria Makory from the Kenya Ministry of Health, and Margaret Macharia from the Social Health Authority (SHA). Angela Langat, an Assistant Research Fellow- Health Economics delivered an oral presentation on using health technology assessment to inform oncology benefit package design in Kenya. She showed how Kenya’s newly established BPTAP used HTA to review oncology benefit package under the Social Health Authority (SHA) demonstrating a replicable model for institutionalising HTA in the benefit package design in a low-resource setting.

Dr. Valeria Makory participated in a panel discussion on HTA in Africa, speaking to Kenya's experience of institutionalising HTA through legislation and the importance of government partnership and political goodwill.

A key takeaway: regional collaboration through networks such as HTAfrica can accelerate progress for countries and help them address shared health system challenges together.

09/06/2026

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) is developing the Kenya Livestock Masterplan, a 15 year roadmap meant to guide investments into the sector.

Under the auspices of MoALD, the Directorate of Livestock Policy Research and Regulations, CEMA alongside other partners including Strathmore University, Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the University of Nairobi (UoN), are leading the development of a modeling framework to simulate how an economy reacts to changes such as policy reforms, investment options, climate shocks, human/animal population changes and land use changes to inform actions that will stimulate the sector, and the economy.

On Friday, the team, including CEMA’s Prof. Thumbi Mwangi and Dr. George Paul Omondi, Dr. Denis Mujibi from Strathmore, and Josephine Kamau from the MoALD, brainstorming further on the masterplan, reviewed details that will help the country know how to, for instance, best allocate funds in the sector and achieve targeted goals.

The masterplan is also set to show pathways for tech uptake to enhance productivity, ways of increasing feeds and reducing diseases, amongst others. It will also show evidence of how a streamlined livestock sector can trigger growth in inter-related sectors.

09/06/2026

⏳ Just 1 day to go!

How is scientific computing transforming research, and how can AI be used responsibly to accelerate scientific software development?

Join us tomorrow for the next CEMA Seminar Series with Dr. Paul K Korir and explore the intersection of scientific computing, research software engineering, and AI-driven innovation.

📅 Wednesday, 10 June 2026

⏰ 12:00 PM EAT

🔗 Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LoftfnTdQqakYUxZiR8Apw #/registration

What is scientific computing and how is it transforming health research?

Join us on Wednesday, 10 June at 12:00 PM EAT for the next CEMA Seminar Series session with Dr. Paul K Korir, Senior research Fellow at CEMA.

The session will explore the growing role of scientific computing in research, emerging career opportunities including research software engineering, and how generative AI is reshaping the future of science and innovation.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LoftfnTdQqakYUxZiR8Apw #/registration

Or scan the QR code

08/06/2026

📢 New Publication Alert!

Congratulations Dr Paula Christen-Price, Dr Jeanette Dawa, Dr Njoki Kimani (M.D, MSc), Dr Loice Achieng Ombajo, Prof Thumbi Mwangi and colleagues on their new publication: Enhancing epidemic forecast usability for policymakers: A global mixed-methods study.

The study examined how epidemic forecasts were perceived, used, and communicated by stakeholders involved in COVID-19 policy dialogues.

Some interesting findings: forecast credibility depended on interpersonal trust, institutional relationships, and contextual relevance rather than statistical sophistication alone.

Hence, strengthening modelling impact will require co-developing models with the decision makers, particularly on the metrics, and having user-oriented tools, along sustained investment in health information systems.

Read more about the study here:

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006519&?utm_id=plos111&utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=author

08/06/2026

⏳ 2 days to go!

How is scientific computing transforming health research and shaping the future of science?

Join Dr. Paul K Korir on Wednesday, 10th June at 12:00 PM EAT for an engaging session on scientific computing, emerging career opportunities including research software engineering, and the growing impact of generative AI in research and innovation.

Register now: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LoftfnTdQqakYUxZiR8Apw #/registration

What is scientific computing and how is it transforming health research?

Join us on Wednesday, 10 June at 12:00 PM EAT for the next CEMA Seminar Series session with Dr. Paul K Korir, Senior research Fellow at CEMA.

The session will explore the growing role of scientific computing in research, emerging career opportunities including research software engineering, and how generative AI is reshaping the future of science and innovation.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LoftfnTdQqakYUxZiR8Apw #/registration

Or scan the QR code

05/06/2026

Africa has everything it needs to fix healthcare.

The talent. The expertise. The data.

What's been missing is the capacity to generate and analyse evidence rooted in our realities and not borrowed from someone else’s.

As Kenya transitions to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), one question matters the most:

📌 Which interventions should be included in the essential health benefits package?

Answering that takes rigorous, homegrown evidence and local capacity.

The Benefits Package and Tariffs Advisory Panel (BPTAP) secretariat brought together experts in Epidemiology, Data Science, Health Economics, Social Science, Clinical Advisory, Software Engineering, and AI from CEMA and the University of Nairobi for an intensive two-day training conducted by CEMA on evaluating nominated disease intervention pairs against standardized Health Technology Assessment (HTA) criteria as part of the development of a living database.

What did participants learn and why does this matter for Kenya's healthcare future?

Hear directly from the participants.

Dr Zakaria Hassan Mohamud, Dr Shaima Nabhan Arisi

03/06/2026

What is scientific computing and how is it transforming health research?

Join us on Wednesday, 10 June at 12:00 PM EAT for the next CEMA Seminar Series session with Dr. Paul K Korir, Senior research Fellow at CEMA.

The session will explore the growing role of scientific computing in research, emerging career opportunities including research software engineering, and how generative AI is reshaping the future of science and innovation.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LoftfnTdQqakYUxZiR8Apw #/registration

Or scan the QR code

02/06/2026

What could help close some of the biggest gaps in women's health across Africa?

Better data and the ability to turn that data into action.

Mathematical modelling helps answer critical public health questions, forecast disease trends, identify health inequities, and inform evidence-based policies that reflect local realities.

This feature published by Africa.com highlights how the - Africa Modeling and Analytics Academy for Women network is strengthening Africa’s modelling and analytics capacity to advance data-driven solutions for women’s health and support better health decision-making across the continent.

Read more: https://africa.com/african-scientists-advance-data-driven-solutions-for-womens-health/

29/05/2026

A delegation from the School of Public Health (KSPH), accompanied by a team from the Gates Foundation, visited CEMA on Tuesday to gain insights into what it takes to establish a sustainable disease modelling center in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The visit provided an opportunity for the delegation to learn from CEMA’s journey in building a center of excellence in modelling and analytics. Through a series of engagements led by CEMA’s leadership Prof. Thumbi Mwangi, Dr. Loice Ombajo, and CEMA researchers, discussions focused on the strategic steps involved in setting up a successful centre, including institutional development, capacity strengthening, research collaboration, and resource mobilization.

A key part of the discussions centered on how CEMA has built and maintained strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including government institutions, academic partners, development partners, and the wider public health community. The delegation expressed interest in understanding the approaches CEMA has used to foster trust, collaboration, and long-term partnerships that support evidence-based decision-making and public health interventions.

The conversations also explored the importance of developing and retaining talent in a highly competitive global environment, particularly within the AI, data science, and technology spaces. CEMA shared experiences on nurturing local expertise through mentorship, training opportunities, collaborative research, and creating an enabling environment for young scientists and researchers to grow and do meaningful research.

The KSPH team also briefed the CEMA team on their institutional structures and the critical role they play in the DRC, particularly in training healthcare workers and supporting public health initiatives across the country. The exchange created an important platform for knowledge sharing and exploring opportunities for future collaboration in strengthening modelling capacity and public health systems in the region.

As part of the visit, the delegation also paid a courtesy call to the Associate Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof. Wagaiyu Gaceri.