KEMRI flags off Ksh.10.3 million mobile mortuary

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) on Wednesday rolled out a Ksh.10.3 million mobile mortuary, aiming to enhance its research efforts focused on child mortalities.

Speaking at the KEMRI Centre for Global Health in Kisumu, KEMRI Acting Director General Elijah Songok highlighted that the mobile mortuary has proved a vital asset in the government agency's research owing to high numbers of community deaths recorded among children under the age of five.

The van, equipped with all the necessary tools to conduct an autopsy, has so far carried out more than 1,000 post mortem examinations pivoting the country’s efforts in eradicating child mortalities.

"We have to take samples immediately because if we delay and say we take the samples after 24 hours then the body of the child would have already decomposed and we will not be able to get the cause of death," Dr. Richard Omore, the study's principal investigator, said.

He added that after collecting the samples, they are sent to the laboratory for analysis and the family is notified of the cause of death within 30 days.

From the autopsies conducted so far, malnutrition was the front runner for the cause of child mortalities, with other infectious diseases such as Malaria and HIV each accounting for 10% of infant mortality rates.

The study's findings will then be relayed to the funding partners in a bid to develop global policy guidelines in eradicating child mortalities.

"A similar study is being conducted in Asia, Bangladesh, Latin America and some African countries so that shows how critical this facility is," Songkok aid.

With data from the Ministry of Health indicating that Kenya's child mortality rate stood at 32.5% in 2023, researchers aim for the study's outcomes to support the government in implementing targeted interventions aimed at further reducing child mortality rates.