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The U.S. Department of Defense has conducted research in Kenya at the invitation of the Kenyan government since 1969. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research-Africa (WRAIR-Africa) is on the campus of the Kenyan Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi.
WRAIR-Africa works with partner research sites across sub-Saharan Africa, and its activities are known in many local communities as the Walter Reed Program. They collaborate with host governments and communities to advance research on endemic diseases such as malaria and HIV, and to help identify and develop countermeasures for emerging infectious disease threats such as Ebola and Lassa fever.
WRAIR-Africa advances Defense Health through three primary lines of effort: 1) innovative and collaborative research, 2) public health surveillance, and 3) health diplomacy. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, for 55+ years of continuous partnership, WRAIR-Africa has enduring programs of greater than 20 years under Chief of Mission authority in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Most of these began as direct research-based collaborations between WRAIR and African partners, and WRAIR-Africa’s reach-back capability to WRAIR remains a key strength that powers the institute and its collaborations. WRAIR-Africa partners with host-nation military and health ministries, external academic and industry partners, non-government organizations, and the interagency community to bolster health and biodefense missions by developing medical countermeasures, supporting public health agencies, enhancing biosafety and biosecurity, and conducting research and development to combat infectious diseases. As a Combat Support Agency element, WRAIR-Africa supports USAFRICOM priorities in alignment with the GCC’s strategy while advancing WRAIR’s objectives on the continent.
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