Kenya has just earned a major public health milestone: the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the country free of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT)—commonly known as sleeping sickness—as a public health problem. This victory marks Kenya as the 10th country globally—and the 5th in Africa—to hit the elimination benchmark for HAT.

Although the first locally transmitted case in Kenya was recorded more than a century ago, strong control efforts have paid off: no indigenous cases have been reported since 2009, and the last two imported cases were as far back as 2012, traced to the Maasai Mara . Kenya's success is built on years of strategic action—setting up 12 sentinel health facilities in historically affected counties, equipping them with cutting-edge diagnostic tools, training healthcare workers, and monitoring the tsetse fly and animal reservoirs through its Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Council (KENTTEC).

Kenya's victory celebrates not just one disease defeated, but the broader power of collaboration, science, and community commitment. And now, with a post-validation surveillance plan in place, Kenya continues to safeguard against any resurgence.