KPFP
Kenya Paediatric Fellowship Programme
About KPFP
Kenya Paediatric Fellowship Program (KPFP) is a four-year program running from June 2019 to June 2023, funded by the ELMA Foundation. KPFP was established in July 2019 to begin addressing shortages of childcare specialists by offering 24 scholarships to paediatricians to specialize in critical Paediatric subspecialty areas, namely: Neonatology, Hemato-Oncology, Neurology, Infectious diseases, Endocrinology, and Emergency and Critical Care. In the nursing cadre, 30 midwives and 94 Paediatric nurses and Paediatric critical care nurses will benefit from the scholarship. The partner training institutions for this fellowship program are: University of Nairobi, Moi University, Aga Khan University & Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital School of Nursing.
Background
There is a shortage of paediatric specialists and nurse midwives in Kenya. A case in point is that of paediatricians, whereby of the available 440 paediatricians, only 114(25.9%) are working in the public sector. A further assessment against the recommended staffing levels shows that only an estimated 5 County Referral Hospitals have the recommended four paediatricians. Even more grave is the lack of paediatric sub-specialists in the public facilities as they primarily work in national referral hospitals and the private sector and, most specifically, in Nairobi County. With these shortages and skewed distribution, most children requiring specialized care have reduced chances to survive and thrive. KPFP was established to begin addressing shortages of childcare specialists through building Kenya’s training institutions’ capacity to offer quality paediatric sub-specialty training programs to Kenyan paediatric specialists and the African region at large.
Overall goal and aims of KPFP
The overall goal of KPFP is to expand the capacity of training institutions to select, train and deploy quality Paediatric sub-specialists, midwives, and Paediatric nurses and address the shortage and inequitable distribution of specialized child health workforce in the public sector.
Objectives
- Improve strategic selection and deployment to address inequitable distribution of specialized child health workforce
- Train specialists in pediatrics and maternal-newborn health
- Support Universities to build faculty capacity and establish infrastructure to develop new pediatric sub-specialty fellowship programs
- Improve the quality of training and mentorship of graduates to increase impact post-deployment

DR. JUSTUS MAINGI SIMBA MBChB, PhD.
Dr. Elizabeth Kiragu is a Paediatric Allergy Specialist and full time faculty based at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. She attended the University of Nairobi and for her undergraduate degree and her Masters in Paediatrics and Child Health. She completed a 2-year Paediatric Allergy fellowship at the University of Cape Town. Dr. Kiragu has established comprehensive allergy services within the Paediatric Department of Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. She has a special interest in food allergies, urticaria, asthma and allergy advocacy. She is committed towards advancing allergy care in Kenya at primary care level via presenting on a wide variety of topics at various National and Regional Conferences/Symposiums.
DR. JOY MUYONGA
DR. JUSTUS MAINGI SIMBA MBChB, PhD.
Dr. Barnabas Kigen
DR. JUSTUS MAINGI SIMBA MBChB, PhD.
Dr. Caren Ito Emadau
Affiliation: Machakos County
Fred Were is Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health specializing in Newborn Medicine. He presently holds portfolios of; Dean School of Medicine University of Nairobi (UON), Acting Principal College of Health Sciences (UON), Adjunct Professor of Newborn Medicine at the Aga Khan University (East Africa) and Executive Director/Chief Researcher of The Kenya Paediatric Research Consortium a wing of the Kenya Paediatric Association.
Njeri Wahome delights in all things administration. With over 20 years of experience in operations management in the development sector, Njeri as hands-on experience in strategic planning, financial management, human resources management, administration and logistics planning. She has experience providing technical assistance to NGOs on institutional strengthening for growth and sustainability.
Thomas Ngwiri is Head Clinician at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital since February 2010. He is also Director of the Paediatric endocrinology training centre for Africa (PETCA) – Nairobi which trains paediatricians from sub-Saharan Africa in the field of diabetes and other endocrine disorders. He has been a member of the Kenya Paediatric association executive since 2010 and is the immediate former National Chair of the association.
Dr. Lawrence Okong’o Owino is a lecturer at the department of paediatrics and child health at the University of Nairobi. He is also a consultant paediatrician at the Kenyatta National hospital as well as a consultant paediatrician and rheumatologist for all the major hospitals in Nairobi. He is a pioneer paediatric rheumatologist. His research interests are in the field of musculoskeletal health and immunizations. He has published papers in peer reviewed journals focussing mainly on childhood rheumatic disorders.
MBChB (UoN), MMed (UoN) M.Phil-MCH (UCT)). Dr Osano is a Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, a consultant Paediatrician cardiologist at Kenyatta National Hospital. He has been the Program Coordinator for the NIH MEPI grant awarded to the University of Nairobi: Strengthening Maternal Newborn Child Health Research Training in Kenya. He has special interest in Maternal Child Health.
Dr. Joe Mbuthia is a graduate of the University of Oxford, with a specialty in Paediatric Infectious Diseases. He is an honorary Lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics and Child health, University of Nairobi as well as a Senior Technical Advisor to the HIV programme – Kenya Paediatric Research Consortium.
Dr. David Githanga is an accomplished medical professional with over 37 years of clinical practice experience. He holds a fellowship of the royal college of physicians of Edinburg (2021, a PhD in Medical Immunology from the University of Nairobi. (2019), Masters in public Health from the University of London (2010), He qualified in paediatric cardiology from the Royal Hospital for sick Children in Glasgow UK (1993), A Diplomate in Child Environmental Health from Athens Greece (2005, a Master’s degree in pediatrics from the University of Nairobi (1990) having obtained his MB,chB from the same University in 1984. Over the years he has demonstrated leadership capability and strategic thinking that has been instrumental in spearheading the growth, development and integration of the Kenya Pediatric Association (KPA) where he served in executive positions for a total period of 19 years.
Dr. Doris M.W. Kinuthia is medical professional with expertise in paediatrics and adolescent medicine, nephrology and HIV. She graduated from the University of Nairobi with medical qualifications MB.Ch.B and M.Med in Paediatrics. She has Certificates in Tropical medicine and Immunology from the same University. She did her fellowship in Paediatric Nephrology at the hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, London.U.K. She has a post graduate diploma and Master of Business Administration from Sunderland University U.K.
Denish Osodo works at Safaricom Limited as the Internal Audit Director. He has wide and deep experience in Accounting and Audit with along progressive career in Assurance, Governance and Risk Services.
Dr. Makeba Shiroya Wandabwa is a Paediatrician and Public Health Specialist, with a strong health systems background having worked in various capacities to develop child health policies and guidelines, implement and monitor high impact child health interventions at the international, national, sub national and community levels. She has provided technical, strategic, evaluation and operational support for RMNCAH/HIVAIDS health programs funded by USAID, DFID, Global Fund and World Health Organization.
Dr. Kibore received her bachelor’s degree in medicine and her master’s degree in Pediatrics and Child Health both from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, she then went on and completed a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Washington, USA.
Denish Osodo works at Safaricom Limited as the Internal Audit Director. He has wide and deep experience in Assurance, Governance and Risk Services. Prior to joining Safaricom, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for several years, offering audit and business advisory services to Companies in different industries during his stints in Kenya and United Kingdom offices. He left PwC as a Director in the Risk Assurance Services team focusing on the provision of Internal Audit and business Controls Advisory Services to clients across Africa.
AFFILIATIONS: Department of Paediatrics and Child health, University of Nairobi.
AFFILIATIONS: Aga Khan University Nairobi, Kenya.
AFFILIATIONS:
AFFILIATION: Medical services Nairobi City County
AFFILIATIONS: Aga Khan University Hospital
AFFILIATIONS: Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Kenyatta University.
AFFILIATIONS: Gertrudes Childrens Hospital