KENYA – Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) has collaborated with the University of Liverpool to launch a new clean energy research initiative to address the burden of non-communicable diseases caused by household air pollution in sub-Sahara Africa.
Non-communicable diseases are responsible for 634,000 preventable deaths each year in the region.
Funded by the UK National Institute for Health (NIRH), Clean Air Africa is a five year project that seeks meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG #7) initiative of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.
The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on CLEAN-Air (Africa) is a £7 million (KSh1 billion) initiative funded by the UK National Institute for Health (NIRH) and Care research under their Global Health Research program.
The collaboration brings together academic, research and clinical experts from Kenya, UK, Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda to provide research evidence for national policies supporting populations transition from polluting solid fuels (e.g. wood, charcoal, biomass) and kerosene to clean fuels/ energy.
A five-year programme of policy-oriented research and health systems strengthening will provide an evidence base for national strategies to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 ‘Universal access to affordable and clean energy’, that will improve health (SDG3), gender equality (SDG5), economic growth (SDG8)
The NIHR CLEAN-Air(Africa) Unit involves research partners from KEMRI, the University of Liverpool, Moi University, the University of Dar es Salaam, Makerere University Lung Institute, Rwanda Biomedical Center and Eagle Research Center and Douala General Hospital.
The NIHR CLEAN-Air(Africa) Unit is co-Directed by Dr James Mwitari from KEMRI and Professor Daniel Pope and Dr Elisa Puzzolo from the University of Liverpool.
CLEAN-Air(Africa) is a flagship initiative of the Energy, Air Pollution and Health Research Group at the University of Liverpool’s Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems.
KEMRI is one of the recipients of collaborative research funding from The Gates Foundation for close to two decades which has resulted in cutting-edge and impactful research findings of global influence to health policies and bettered health systems.
During Bill Gates’s visit to the facility recently he pledged to continue to support its cutting-edge research in their various centres that have influenced policies and health systems.
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