Research fraternity is raising an alarm because there is a serious threat of lack of funds to fund the future of scientific discovery and health security in Kenya due to critical shortages of funds. Long-established institutions that have consistently been the drivers of innovation in the fields of public health, agriculture and technology are now faced with the challenge of a financial crunch that may put the advancement of several fronts on the backburner.
Professionals emphasize that the National Research Fund (NRF) a statutory body that is the one that finances research and innovation is instrumental in research granting competition, strategic project funding and pipeline innovation. The fund provides funding to postgraduate researchers and enables the work on national areas of priority. Nonetheless, the national budget did not include the anticipated funds in 2025/ 26 and the researchers did not know how they will be funded.
Meanwhile, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is the leading health research center in the nation that is failing to juggle the requirements of operations and a dwindling governmental funding. The 2025/ 26 financial year which saw the government funding apparently meeting all basic salary needs and recurrent expenses and no special budget devoted to active research activities, a scenario already forcing some studies to be suspended but fearing more drastic measures.
The effects of limited resources extend past research laboratories. The health experts are alerting the world to the fact that the lack of reliable financing means that Kenya may fail to carry out disease surveillance, design diagnostics and prepare to combat an outbreak at the time when the global health threats are still not predictable.
Nonetheless, despite these difficulties, the industry can be said to display some resilience. At the beginning of 2025, KEMRI reinforced the existing collaboration with the Wellcome Trust and the University of Oxford of the UK in a multi-year association to increase the research potential and the financing of the critical projects. This deal will provide a major inflow of funds in health science programs in the next several years.
Also, specific programmes include a new KSh516 million programme made possible by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation that is meant to increase research leadership and innovations especially in women scientists in Africa.
Nevertheless, scientists and lobby groups have been pressuring the Kenyan government to restore effective domestic funding in science and research facilities so that it becomes less dependent on foreign donors and tends to be sustainable in the long term.
