Student stories: bridging healthcare gaps in Kenya through neglected tropical disease research

Fahdi Alew, a Spring 2025 recipient of the Srinivasan Family Awards for Projects in Emerging Markets, has spent the past several months in Kenya's Baringo County researching the comorbidities between visceral leishmaniasis and diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Fahdi Alew is a Fall 2024 recipient of the Srinivasan Family Awards for Projects in Emerging Markets, an initiative run by the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University to support student-led projects addressing critical challenges in emerging economies across the globe.

In the remote villages of Baringo County, Kenya, healthcare workers face a daily struggle against visceral leishmaniasis (VL)—a parasitic disease that disproportionately affects the region's most vulnerable populations. At their side is Fahdi Alew, a third-year Biology pre-med student from Northeastern University, who has traveled thousands of miles for a co-op to investigate how this neglected tropical disease intersects with other health challenges in the area.

With support from the Center for Emerging Markets, Fahdi has spent the past several months conducting research in Kenya's remote Tiaty region, where over 90% of Baringo County's VL cases occur. His work focuses on understanding the comorbidities between VL and other high-burden diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and malnutrition—conditions that compound one another in communities already facing limited healthcare access.

Continue reading at: https://damore-mckim.northeastern.edu/cem/news/fahdi-alew-visceral-leishmaniasis/