Maseno University paid for a whole page on Daily Nation to congratulate Dr. Walter Otieno for his outstanding achievement that earned him recognition from WHO.
Dr. Walter Otieno is the Head of Paediatrics and Child Health at Maseno University School of Medicine, he is also a Senior Research Officer at the WRP/ KEMRI Kisumu.
Dr. Otieno is at the centre of groundbreaking malaria vaccine, he participated in the medical research that led to the development of malaria vaccine which has been approved by World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO approval of the malaria vaccine is based on results from an ongoing pilot programme in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi.
Dr. Walter Otieno participated in the vaccine pilot study as the principal investigator in Kisumu county.
The medical researcher was among medical experts who took part in a four-month pre-vaccine trial on malaria in 2010.
In 2016, he was invited to work as the principal investigator of the vaccine pilot study in Kombewa, Seme sub-county.
He worked alongside 280 medical experts, including counsellors, nutritionists, laboratory technicians, clinicians and nurses.
The study took five years and saw an enrollment of 1,631 children aged between six weeks and 17 months. The study was based in Kisumu county because of high malaria prevalent rates.
Dr. Otieno was motivated to discover malaria vaccine with hope that it will bring relieve to residents in malaria endemic zones in Kenya.
Following his success with the malaria vaccine, Maseno University decided to celebrate Dr. Otieno with a paid advertisement on a whole page on Daily Nation.
The ad on Daily Nation on Wednesday November 10th reminded everyone that Dr. Otieno developed the first malaria vaccine and that Maseno University’s school of Medicine is the best among Kenya Public Universities’ Schools Of Medicine.
Dr. Otieno hails from Yimbo in Siaya County. He was born in 1966 and attended Nyangera Primary and St Mary’s Yala Secondary. He later joined Njiri High and the University of Nairobi to study medicine.
In 1998, he got his first job as a research officer with the US Army Medical Research Unit in Kombewa. He was a post-graduate student in pediatrics and child health at the University of Nairobi.
He later pursued a PhD in molecular medicine with a research interest in sickle cell disease between 2004 and 2009.
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