After today's Jamhuri Day, Kenya will turn 60 next year as an independent country in which time a lot has been done by local scientists in various fields including research on drugs, diseases, and vaccines. Other medics have made breakthroughs in the areas of infertility and penile surgeries.

Others still, left their mark as innovators in science and biotechnology: They are our medical heroes and heroines this Jamhuri Day, alongside medical entrepreneurs who have made Kenya the largest exporter of vaccination syringes in the continent.

But first, let us start with medical researchers like Dr Rose Jalang'o, a public health specialist in 'vaccinology,' credited with the malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01. She is now spearheading its rollout in Kenya through the National Vaccines and Immunisation Programame-after its approval by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for use in children in Sub-saharan Africa.