Opportunities and Challenges in Sustaining Global Health in Kenya amid Changing Geopolitics
Meet faculty members from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) of Nairobi
The global health landscape has shifted significantly in 2025, influenced by the rapidly changing priorities of the United States government. This shift presents both opportunities and challenges for sustaining progress in the field of global health and collaborative partnerships. Dr. Reuben Thuo and Dr. Eddy Odari from The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology of Nairobi will provide insights into the ways these challenges and opportunities are being addressed in Kenya.
Presented by the Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development.
Dr. Reuben Thuo is a senior lecturer in the Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, and the current Principal of the College of Health sciences. Dr. Thuo has experience spanning over 20 years in the development and management of human resource in health having been a Medical superintendent in a level 5 hospital in Kenya and also the founding Dean of the school of medicine Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
Dr. Thuo has over 25 years of experience in Strategic health Information systems management, General Surgery, and public health at the community level. Through USAID funding Dr. Thuo successfully established the Digital Health Applied Research Centre (www.dharc.jkuat.ac.ke) whose mission is to provide real-time health information for effective decision making. Dr. Thuo has supported the Ministry of Health to build capacity and strengthen the implementation of National Health Information Systems (HIS), Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) policies, strategies, standards, and guidelines at both the national and county levels for several programs including HIV, Maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), nutrition, and malaria. Dr. Thuo played a critical role in strengthening Kenya’s health systems, including active participation in the National Technical Committee on COVID-19 Response.
Dr. Eddy O. Odari (He/Him/His) is senior lecturer in the department of Medical Microbiology at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is also an adjunct associate professor of biomedical research at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, and an adjunct faculty at the Department of Community and Global Health, Indiana University - Indianapolis.
Over the years Dr. Odari has been engaged in the field of biomedical research focusing on diagnostic tools for low-resource countries. A medical virologist professional, his interests have been in HIV research. Currently, he is engaged in collaborative research and training with different groups in Europe, the USA and Japan. All the collaborations have focused on Biomedical research, medical engineering, and implementation research. Dr. Odari also serves as the primary point of contact for research and educational partnerships between JKUAT and Indiana University Indianapolis (IU-Indianapolis) – Fairbanks School of Public Health, Purdue University, and University of Chicago Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development. He currently serves as the Kenyan PI for microbiology studies within the Neo-Innovate Collaborative Consortium.
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