GEOMEDICINE IN KENYA

Geomedical research in Kenya, as in other developing countries, is sti ll in its infancy. although a significant amount of data already exist s in certain aspects of the subject. The biggest advances to date have been with the halogens (F and I) but data interpretation and the iden tification of meaningful correlations between geochemistry and epidemi ology are hampered by the use of non-multidisciplinary approaches. Add itional information is needed on the behaviour of certain nutritional and toxic elements in various environmental media (soils, plants, natu ral waters, etc.), but present analytical facilities are woefully inad equate for the determination of these elements at the very low levels generally required. Nor is there enough trained personnel for these ty pes of analysis. This paper attempts to summarise and synthesise the g eomedical information so far available in Kenya and emphasises the pot ential effectiveness of more holistic, multi-disciplinary, multielemen t studies in advancing this emergent field. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.