Kenya wins bid to host International Vaccine Institute headquarters

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) office’s continental headquarters will be hosted in Kenya.

Health CS Susan Nakhumicha on Thursday told the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health this was after a successful bidding process.

The bidding took place during 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia last week.

During the meeting, Nakhumicha participated in the Africa Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2nd High-level Ministers for Health forum, MELP 2024.

IVI comprises of a team of biomedical scientists, infectious disease experts, health professionals, and humanitarian leaders.

The institute aims to design and formulate new vaccines, optimise production processes for industrial scale-up, and develop new technologies to support clinical testing of vaccines in humans.

It also conducts research on vaccine safety with a focus on special populations like pregnant women, refugees and internally displaced people.

The institute which was founded in 1997 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is currently hosted in Seoul, Korea.

Addressing the committee, Nakhumicha highlighted Kenya’s commitment to vaccine manufacturing and its efforts to become a regional hub for specialised health products and technologies.

She said the main areas of focus are on focus on vaccines for childhood, adolescent girls and maternal immunisation.

The Africa CDC Ministerial Executive Leadership Programme (MELP) was virtually launched on 02 June 2022.

The programme aims to equip Ministers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and networks to navigate the complexities of public health leadership successfully.

MELP seeks to support African Ministers of Health in reimagining health in their respective Member States and across Africa and strengthening their planning and execution capacity to achieve transformative goals and improve leadership effectiveness.