MRC Keneba is a rural field station situated in the Kiang West region of The Gambia, 4 hours by road from MRC Fajara. The field-station is located in the village of Keneba; the largest village in an area of predominantly subsistence agriculture. The MRC has had a presence in the area for 60 years and enjoys an excellent relationship with the local community. The Nutrition Group of the MRC Laboratories, The Gambia is based in Keneba and linked to the MRC International Nutrition Group (ING) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and to MRC Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge. The current Head of Station is Dr Sophie Moore.
Due to its isolation MRC Keneba maintains all its own infrastructure (laboratories and clinic, vehicles, electricity, water supply, satellite communication) necessary to support its science. The field-station has a long history of providing medical care to the local population as well as carrying out a strong nutrition-related science programme. The clinic provides an extensive, out-patient based service concentrating on maternal and child health provision and working closely with the local Gambian Government Divisional Health Team. Clinics are run 5 days per week and a supplementary feeding centre for malnourished children is maintained 7 days per week as well as an emergency out-of-hours service offering medical, midwifery and nursing care. The clinic also supports the local Karantaba Health Centre and the Maternal and Child Health trekking teams that deliver healthcare directly to the villages. The field-station has a strong record in training our Gambian and other West African staff (now numbering 107) from basic to post-doctoral levels. Keneba hosts many overseas students and researchers especially medical elective and MSc students from LSHTM.
The villages of Keneba, Manduar and Kantong-Kunda have traditionally maintained the closest relationship with the field-station but increasingly our studies and clinical service involve many other villages across West Kiang. Regular demographic surveillance of approximately 16,000 individuals in 30 villages in West Kiang is achieved through the Kiang West Demographic Surveillance System.
The field-station maintains a continuous dialogue with the local community to promote a better understanding of the research that we are carrying out. Our research is directly relevant to the health of the local population and this dialogue stresses the co-operative nature of the research and the rights of any community or individual to opt out. Our research accords fully with recent recommendations on ‘The Ancillary-Care Obligations of Medical Researchers Working in Developing Countries’.
