On a typical day, the maternal and child health unit at Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya, will be bustling with dozens of pregnant women waiting to be attended by the doctor and find out how their babies were progressing. For the women, this is a reassuring monthly routine in a country with high numbers of maternal and infant deaths. Besides the maternal and neonatal deaths, a worry which occupies the pregnant women is the possibility of a baby born with birth defects.

Tracking animal disease to improve human health

September 12, 2015

In rural Kenyan villages where few families have electricity or indoor plumbing, a surprising technology helps researchers study the health of animals and people: the cell phone.

Veterinarian Victoria Olsen-Mikitowicz with two Kenyan men the population-based animal syndromic surveillance project.