Geomedicine in Kenya

Geomedical research in Kenya, as in other developing countries, is still in its infancy, although a significant amount of data already exists in certain aspects of the subject. The biggest advances to date have been with the halogens (F and I) but data interpretation and the identification of meaningful correlations between geochemistry and epidemiology are hampered by the use of non-multidisciplinary approaches.Additional information is needed on the behaviour of certain nutritional and toxic elements in various environmental media (soils, plants, natural waters, etc.), but present analytical facilities are woefully inadequate for the determination of these elements at the very low levels generally required. Nor is there enough trained personnel for these types of analysis.This paper attempts to summarise and synthesise the geomedical information so far available in Kenya and emphasises the potential effectiveness of more holistic, multi-disciplinary, multi-element studies in advancing this emergent field.