Dr. Ouma Oluga, Ps, State Department for Medical Services, flanked by Dean FHS Prof. Daniel Ojuka, Dr. Wesley Ronoh the CEO of Kenya BioVax Institute, the Chairman of Kenya vision 2030 board, Dr. Emmnuel Nzai, institutional leaders, FHS faculty members and other stakeholders.
Stakeholders in the health sector have underscored the need for strategic collaboration within academia, industry and the government spheres of the sector in order to drive development and advance health in the country.
In order to make strides in advancing healthcare, Kenya must cohesively link research and manufacturing, invest heavily in training its workforce, and develop a cohesive plan to leverage its resources and infrastructure to strengthen health security and create jobs.
These moves are seen as trivial triggers towards the potential opportunity in advancing biomanufacturing in the country, which requires immediate action to secure Kenya’s place in the global market.
Presentations and discussions at the Public Lecture and Stakeholder Engagement Forum on “Academia, Industry and the Trigger for Local Manufacturing,” at the UoN-Faculty of Health Sciences campus on the 5th April 2026, concluded that Kenya faces significant challenges in drug development, primarily due to a lack of infrastructure for local manufacturing and a shortage of skilled personnel.
While the country possesses the knowledge base, translating this into practical skills for advanced areas like biogenomic drug development is crucial.
In his address at the forum, Dr. Ouma Oluga, OGW, the Principal Secretary, State Department for Medical Services, called on universities to focus of skill training in order to build and advance the healthcare system
“We don’t move to manufacturing if we do not develop skills now as we are looking at putting health care as an agenda to shape economic development,” Dr. Ouma Oluga, said in his address.
In delivering his lecture on exploring the potential for biopharmaceutical manufacturing in Kenya, Prof. Stephen Gacheru underscored the need for fostering academic-industry partnerships, clarifying intellectual property rules, and building of a collaborative ecosystem if Kenya is to compete globally and represent Africa in this sector.
Speaking at the event Dr. Wesley Ronoh the CEO of Kenya BioVax Institute, underscored the role played by the institution in strengthening local manufacturing capacity development through intra-sectoral partnerships.
“In Kenya and the continent, the Biomanufacturing sector is nascent that is why the government set up BioVax to catalyze this area. We seek to engage stakeholders like the University of Nairobi to engage and bring key competencies so that we progress,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by the Chairman of Kenya vision 2030 board, Dr. Emmnuel Nzai who said that BioVax is a vision 2030 project that will bring about vaccine and health security in the country.
According to KAVI-ICR Director Dr. Maryanne Mureithi, the lack of collaboration within the healthcare system and academia has locked out highly skilled personnel and facilities from contributing towards furthering research and driving the health sector forward.
“We are ready, the University of Nairobi is ready we have the talent the lab and equipment, we need the visibility and the government to work with us. The problem is that there are no facilities and lab, it’s that there is no data for the Kenyan and African population. We have labs here at KAVI, young scientists in UoN and KAVI and post-doctoral fellows, the government should collaborate with us,” she said during the interactive session.
The forum planned by the Kenya BioVax Institute in collaboration with the University of Nairobi (UoN) brought together senior government officials, institutional leaders, researchers, faculty members, Kenya BioVax members and other stakeholders.
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