This week, I had the opportunity to go to Nakuru city, Kenya's largest city in the Great Rift Valley. It's the first time I've been able to leave Nairobi, due to the mandamano (protests) that have been rocking the country since I've arrived (total coincidence). The GIS team that went to Nakuru consisted of me, Dr. Jack Nyamongo, GIS Kenya Director, Elly Omondi Alaro, our logistician and administrator, and Everlyn Chimwani, our Kisumu-based laboratory biosecurity specialist.

We began our site visit at the Nakuru County Referral Hospital, the main Level 5 hospital in the area. (Kenya's healthcare grading system ranges from Level 1, community health worker, to Level 6, nationwide specialist care.) We met with the laboratory manager and biosecurity officers, toured the labs, and Evelyn conducted lab biosecurity capacity-building activities.

My portion of the work — managing field trials for the "One Health Systems Assessment for Priority Zoonoses EOC" self assessment (OHSAPZ — EOC) — began with a visit to the Nakuru County Public Health Emergency Operations Center. I met with the EOC's operations officer and the EBS — event based surveillance — analyst, and asked my first set of questions to establish a basic narrative. During my time at the EOC, we were interrupted by mandamano Tuesday protests, and the police fired tear gas outside the window, with gunshots in the background. However, the county administrative building we were in remained secure.

At the EOC, I performed a pilot of the One Health Systems Analysis for Priority Zoonoses — Emergency Operations Centers, and constructed a response narrative for Rabies and Rift Valley Fever.

I also had a chance to visit the Hyrax Hill National Museum, which is an archaeological site around Lake Nakuru where some of the earliest known human remains were recovered. The hike to the top of the hill was relatively short, but yielded an amazing view of the Lake, Nakuru City, and the agricultural regions around the city.

Below: Me, Dr. Jack Nyamongo, and the Nakuru County PHEOC staff.