Two universities, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) and University of Nairobi (UoN) have collaborated in a research project aimed at developing an early warning system for improved human health and resilience to climate sensitive vector borne diseases in Baringo County.

The research project started in 2014 with the support of a grant from International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and managed by World Health Organizations (WHO’s) Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). The project specifically focuses on Malaria and Rift Valley Fever (RVF) both of which are transmitted by mosquitoes.

The project covers Baringo Central, Baringo North and Marigat sub-counties.

Speaking yesterday during a one week data sharing workshop to review its activities in the last two years at the Queens Garden Hotel, Prof. Benson B.A Estambale, the Principal Investigator, said that they were interested in the two diseases because of the effect they have on people and the way they are affected by climate change.

“We are reviewing our data for the past two years and when we will have appropriate results we will give recommendations to stakeholders like government and locals to use in controlling these two diseases in future” added Prof. Estambale.

There are five components in this project namely: parasitology, virology, entomology, anthropology and modeling led by researchers and implemented by Masters and PhD students from the two universities.

The parasitologists focus on malaria incidence and prevalence while the virologists focus on the RVF virus behavior in humans and livestock during the inter-epizootic period. The entomologists focus on Malaria and RVF vectors and anthropologists focus on the social-economics of the diseases.

The modelers focus on developing the early warning system for Rift Valley Fever.