Welcome to Gitaka Lab, Working on Tropical Medicine, Maternal and Newborn Health

The Gitaka Lab is led by Dr Jesse Gitaka, at Mount Kenya University.

Introduction

Infectious diseases are a major problem in sub Saharan Africa. HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Neglected Tropical Diseases and lately COVID 19 pose a serious threat to people in Africa. GitakaLab works on these challenges employing molecular biology and genetics to better understand their epidemiology and develop tools that facilitate progress towards elimination. These include highly reliable assays and point of care diagnostics as well as understanding drug sensitivities to inform public health decision making. Dr Gitaka is the founding Director of Centre for Malaria Elimination (CME) and the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) at Mount Kenya University with the goals of advancing strategies and tools to enable malaria elimination in Homabay County, Western Kenya and tackling infectious diseases respectively.

The Gitaka Lab is led by Dr Jesse Gitaka, at Mount Kenya University.

Additionally, at CRID, we work on Maternal and Newborn Health aiming to reduce the huge burden suffered by women and neonates in Africa. It is estimated that up to 18% of deliveries in some African countries are premature, contributing to about 35% of neonatal mortality. Inability to diagnose maternal infections and predict the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes prevents timely interventions. The existing strategies to test for infections in pregnancy are not sensitive enough, do not necessarily indicate current infection and require sophisticated infrastructure and equipment. Our lab is developing assays and tests that have the potential to enable rapid and highly sensitive testing of these infections routinely in the Ante Natal Clinics enabling prompt clinical actions.

Welcome to Gitaka Lab, Working on Tropical Medicine, Maternal and Newborn Health

The Gitaka Lab is led by Dr Jesse Gitaka, at Mount Kenya University.

Introduction

The Gitaka Lab is led by Dr Jesse Gitaka, at Mount Kenya University.

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