MIRAA CONFERENCE LOGISTICS TEAM MEETING HELD VIRTUALLY ON 19 th MARCH 2021

IN ATTENDANCE

Safari Agure- Chairing

Dr Hellen Meme – member

Dr Vera Manduku – member

Richard Mutisya – member

APOLOGIES

David Mathu

Dr Prisca Otambo

James Wodera

AGENDA

 Introductions
 Election/ selection of a secretary
 Logistics for the conference
 AOBs

MIN1/19/03/2021: INTRODUCTIONS

The meeting began at 10:15am with members who were able to attend being Dr Vera Manduku, Dr
Hellen Meme, Richard Mutisya and Safari Agure. The members adopted the agenda as it is.

MIN2/19/03/2021: Election/ selection of secretary

Suggested

The members selected Richard Mutisya as the logistics team secretary. Richard accepted but noted that
he may sometimes not be able to take up the role because of other engagements. He further suggested
that David Mathu also be considered as secretary.

Agreed

This will be concretized in the next meeting with David’s presence. Today’s minutes will then be taken
by Safari.

MIN3/3/2021: Logistics for the conference

Discussed
A background of how the proposed conference came about was given. This necessitated the formation
of the teams including this logistics team. It was clarified that the Meru county had formed its planning
team who were also meeting today. Following this, the KEMRI and Meru teams should have a joint
meeting next week on a date yet to be communicated.

The first logistic item discussed was the conference date. As KEMRI was in the process of planning the
KASH conference to be held in June 2021, organizing another conference to be held around the same
time was tasking in terms of logistics and timing. Apart from the KASH offering an opportunity for the
proposed conference, it was noted that KASH would give a wider audience to the issue.

It was noted that the KASH conference would be a virtual one. Clarity is required as to who the county
required as its audience as this would guide the fit of the conference whether physical, virtual or both.

The clarity or lack of it of the role of KEMRI in the planning of the conference was questioned. Is KEMRI
only to provide the venue? Who will be the secretariat for the conference as the secretariat will be
hands on in planning for the conference streams of logistics, commercialization & scientific?

There will be need for development of conference packages and official communications. As a
communication expert, James Wodera’s input in this matter will be vital.

Agreed

After the meeting outcomes of the Meru team are communicated to Vera with date on the joint
meeting, communication to members will be done. It was agreed that the favorable date to KEMRI
would be the KASH conference date. The Miraa ‘conference’ being a part of KASH has the options of a
board meeting, a roundtable, a scientific breakout session, a symposium or a plenary presentation.
These options will be discussed with the county representatives for decisions and clarity sought. The
option of a virtual conference is to be given to the Meru team as a preferred method by KEMRI. The
county audience is to be discussed to guide the same. KEMRI’s role needs to be clarified. With the role
of providing venue, the issue of social distancing with the high numbers expected limits a KEMRI-based
venue. This is another rationale for a virtual meeting. The issues of participants’ registration ,
invitations, marketing and development of abstracts are ongoing for KASH and are about to close. The
room available to the county in KASH is limited thus to a symposium, where only a program will be
required for the abstract book. All other planning can still be done in time.

MIN4/3/19/2021: AOBs

There being no other AOBs, the meeting was adjourned at 10:41am