Emelda Okiro

Scientist, Critical thinker, a skeptic, a dreamer, always questioning everything

[Tropical Medicine Oxford @TropMedOxford]

#ResearchHighlight from Samuel Muchiri & Bibian Robert @bibian_njish @KEMRI_Wellcome

Impact analysis of flood-induced changes in geographical accessibility and coverage to healthcare in both public and private sector🇰🇪

👉 https://t.co/u9xOSB5B1B
Paper 👉 https://t.co/5gnSUbG8rA

[UNFPA Data and Analytics @PopDevUNFPA]

#UNFPA's Chief of Data, @PriscillaIdele explains that CRVS systems are foundational, providing real time data that tracks people across their life course -recording births, marriages, deaths & divorces.

#CRVS systems are not a backup but the backbone of a country's #data system.

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

New commentary out now: We call for a stronger focus on local data systems and caution against the growing over‑reliance on modelled estimates. Ground‑truth matters. https://t.co/tIKXhEVJGx

[KEMRI-Wellcome @KEMRI_Wellcome]

📊 Strong health policy starts with strong local data
💡New commentary highlights why disease estimates in African settings must be grounded in locally collected data, expertise, and robust surveillance systems for better public health decisions.
🔗 : https://t.co/gaMjzaTCxG

[Tropical Medicine Oxford @TropMedOxford]

#ResearchHighlight commentary from @alice_w_kama and Emelda Okiro @allyeko @KEMRI_Wellcome

Burden of disease modelling should be grounded in local knowledge

Read more 👉 https://t.co/jmlRXQoDMw
Full publication 👉 https://t.co/LdFqu1gUCL

[KEMRI-Wellcome @KEMRI_Wellcome]

📊 Strong health policy starts with strong local data
💡New commentary highlights why disease estimates in African settings must be grounded in locally collected data, expertise, and robust surveillance systems for better public health decisions.
🔗 : https://t.co/gaMjzaTCxG

[KEMRI-Wellcome @KEMRI_Wellcome]

🚨We are hiring: Head of Clinical Research🚨
@KEMRI_Wellcome is recruiting an outstanding clinical scientist to take up the role of Head of Clinical Research and lead our clinical research strategy, trials, and platforms, while driving impactful, interdisciplinary research.
💡Applicants must be medically qualified and registered to practise in Kenya, hold a PhD or DPhil in public health, epidemiology or a related field, and have significant post-qualification research experience, including senior leadership at departmental level.
📍Location : Kilifi, Kenya
🗓️ Deadline : Monday, February 23rd, 2026
🔗Apply here 👉: https://t.co/BcXaljsNLq

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

@lynn_ngugi1 please follow up on this they are exploiting Kenyans

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

Dovey pharmacy Karen is a hoax over charging more than double on meds and the refusing to refund. Don’t go there avoid at all costs

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

Dovey pharmacy Karen is a hoax over charging more than double on meds and the refusing to refund. Don’t go there avoid at all costs

[UNFPA Data and Analytics @PopDevUNFPA]

#DidYouKnow
Globally, only 65% of births and 40% of deaths are officially registered?

A population data emergency is more than numbers, it is a human rights and development crisis.

Accurate data saves lives!

Visit: https://t.co/c9rcggCacg

#CRVSGender2025 | #CRVS

[UNFPA Data and Analytics @PopDevUNFPA]

Day 2 of the 4th Global #CRVS and Gender Symposium starts now!

Today: Marriage and divorce registration, CRVS #data for planning, and partnerships for gender mainstreaming.

🎥Join online: https://t.co/18cJHBgmAM

Visit: https://t.co/c9rcggCacg

#CRVSGender2025

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

@KEMRI_Wellcome @IOyier @UniofOxford Congratulation @IOyier Hongera sana

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

@StevenWambua Congratulations Steven. Very much deserved

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

Warning for travelers! @OribiExpedition failed to honor our travel agreement. They changed our airport & time without communication, completely abandoning prior arrangements, even with a small child present. Absolutely do not recommend.

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

The power of a comprehensive Pan-African health facility database is immense! My colleague @Pete_M_M & I delve into why this is vital for improving healthcare across Africa. #HealthEquity #Africa

[Pete Macharia @Pete_M_M]

How far is your closest hospital or clinic? Public health researchers explain why Africa needs up-to-date health facility databases

Co-authored with @allyeko based on our recent article.

https://t.co/UvNxGA6qeP via @TC_Africa

@ITMantwerp @KEMRI_Wellcome

[QuEST Network @questglobalnet]

🌍 How are health systems performing worldwide?
The #PeoplesVoiceSurvey (#PVS) shows what people say about access, quality, trust & use of care! 📑
Data is free & public. Dive in: https://t.co/OZlwVJ64el
(1/3)

[Gabriel Oguda @gabrieloguda]

THE LAVINGTON SDA CHURCH AND THE ALLIANCE GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL HAVE A JOINT STATEMENT IN TODAY'S NATION.

The story goes like this.

Joyce Ongombe, a UoN-Kikuyu campus-trained high school teacher who specialized in Mathematics and Accounting, taught for a short time before opting to venture into business. Joyce was married to George Ooko a former mathematics teacher at Alliance Girls High School, and later Hillcrest International School at the time of his death.

In April 2010, Joyce's husband George, and his two children Angela (4) and John (2), while driving from Migori to Nairobi were swept away by the infamous Narok flash floods, leaving Joyce with their three months old Georgina. Barely eight months after the loss of her husband and two children, Joyce lost her father and mother three days apart, burying them the same day only months following the burial of her husband and two children.

Having lost all her immediate family, the bond between Joyce and her dear daughter Georgina became stronger. Joyce found family in a community of believers at Lavington Seventh Day Adventist Church who walked with her during this difficult time of grief, she would later become an active deaconess in the church. She raised her daughter Georgina in the church to become a brilliant, active pathfinder involved in various church activities including drama and music.

Georgina would later pass her primary national examinations with flying colors and distinction earning her a place in one of the most coveted and prestigious high school in Kenya - Alliance Girls High School, where her late father once taught mathematics. With her Christian grounding, leadership skills at a young age, and rising academic star, Georgina was set for great things - a possible future leader. But as fate would have it, calamity struck again!

During the last Christmas festivities, Joyce and her daughter Georgina went to Mombasa for a crossover vacation, where they booked an apartment. Sadly, while preparing breakfast on 31 December 2024, the water boiler is reported to have exploded, throwing them to the ground and burning them severely! Joyce suffered 53% burns, and the little girl burn was 60%.

They were rushed to Premier Hospital in Nyali, and later air evacuated on 1st January to Kenyatta National Hospital Burns Unit in Nairobi. A team of doctors and plastic surgeons began to administer treatment. Unfortunately, Georgina succumbed to her injuries two weeks later on 14 January 2025, and in an instant, Joyce's world crumbled!

The pain and the loss have been unbearable. Georgina was buried on 11 April 2025 in Kakrao Village-Migori County, side by side next to her late father and two siblings.

Joyce remains hospitalized with excruciating pain, following the prolonged hospitalization and the nature of the burns suffered, significant resources have been used yet her recovery is far from over. To fully heal, Joyce is currently receiving specialized treatment at FORTIS Hospital in New Delhi, India, with an immediate need of Ksh. 7 million to cover her current treatment costs and possibly change the traction of her healing.

A major fundraising has been planned for tomorrow, Thursday 5th June 2025 from 5pm at Nairobi Central SDA Church, off Milimani Road. Those who will not make it to support Joyce can extend their compassion using the Medical Fund Paybill number:

PAYBIL: 5480284
A/C: Your Name

The organizers cannot thank you enough.

[Pete Macharia @Pete_M_M]

Newly published: 𝐏𝐚𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐲𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, led by @HaloleMoses in @FrontPubHealth

►►Severe anaemia admissions had the highest median travel time

►►Travel time to hospital services was significantly associated with severity of anaemia presentation at admission

► ►Strategic bolstering of lower-level facilities to offer severe anaemia interventions

Read more: https://t.co/cgHqZsioxJ

#geographic #spatial #geostatistics

[Emelda Okiro @allyeko]

@KEMRI_Wellcome @melissakapulu @eunicewnduati Congratulations great news this

[KEMRI-Wellcome @KEMRI_Wellcome]

In our latest dissemination workshop for the QUEST Maternal and Newborn Health Service Delivery Redesign (SDR) Study, the team shared evidence gathered on the SDR study, feasibility assessment, service implementation, and key learnings from the discussion with key stakeholders.
Maternal and Newborn Health SDR is an intervention that seeks to restructure health systems enabling all women to deliver in hospitals or nearby birthing facilities that provide the full scope of obstetric and neonatal care for complications, while lower level facilities provide quality antenatal, postnatal, and newborn care.

[Pete Macharia @Pete_M_M]

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐠𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐇𝐒 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

Published in @BMCMedicine

We highlight key impacts on

►Ongoing data collection & processing activities;
►Future data collection
►Consequent lack of population-level health indicators;
► Access to existing data and a lack of support for its use.

In the short term,
►Universal access to existing data & survey materials is needed
►Surveys that were planned or in progress should be completed.

In the long term,
►This crisis necessitates transforming how vital population surveys are conducted and funded (a system less dependent on external funding)

►Develop sustainable alternatives that preserve the principles that made the DHS Program an invaluable global health resource.

https://t.co/JPTJcMs6kV