Eneza is a Swahili word that means 'spread' or 'disseminate'. This research and education program, “Eneza Data Science: Enhancing Data Science Capability and Tools for Health in East Africa”, focuses on improving health outcomes for at-risk mothers and children, mental health outcomes for at-risk adolescents and young adults in Kenya
Eneza also builds on bioinformatics research and capacity building programs of the Human Health and Heredity in Africa (H3Africa) program; Eastern Africa Network for Bioinformatics Training (EANBiT) and H3ABioNet, the pan-African bioinformatics network.
This program brings together transdisciplinary expertise in machine learning / artificial intelligence, clinical practice, statistics, bioinformatics, and extensive knowledge of infectious diseases. We have structured Eneza Data Science as a reproducible short-term training and internship pipeline to enhance data science capabilities measurably and provide opportunities to grow collaboration across communicable and non-communicable diseases research and clinical communities in the region.
Medical Doctor
Dr Nyotu Gitau is Head of Division for Digital Health in the Directorate of Digital Health, Informatics, Research and Policy in Kenya’s Ministry of Health. He is currently leading deployment of a mHealth system based on network analysis against a variety of conditions and leading the change management shift from data for reporting to data for action.
Physician-scientist
Prof. Akbar K. Walje is a renowned physician-scientist focused on healthcare policy and innovation, utilizing machine learning and deep learning to improve healthcare outcomes. He aims to enhance access, quality, and efficiency, especially in resource-limited settings, by developing AI-based decision support tools for personalized disease management. His work is dedicated to providing efficient and equitable care globally. He is supported by grants from the NIH and Veterans Affairs.
Bioinformatician
Dr. Caleb Kibet is a bioinformatician at the International Aids Vaccine Initiative and an adjunct lecturer at Pwani University. He holds a BSc in Biotechnology (Kenyatta University), an MSc, and a PhD in Bioinformatics (Rhodes University). Previously, he was a post-doc scientist leading bioinformatics at ICIPE. Dr Kibet is a board member of the Open Bioinformatics Foundation and Dryad, championing open science, reproducible Genomics research, capacity building, and data management.