“My journey into the neglected tropical disease sector was highly influenced by the diseases that I caught myself” – Wycliff Omondi
We are working with our partners supported by the ARISE Fund to highlight the people behind the programs. This month, we are a featuring an article by Wycliff Peter Omondi, Head of the Neglected Tropical Disease Unit in Kenya’s Ministry of Health. Wycliff discusses the career path that led him into the field of neglected tropical diseases and public health.

People in the neglected tropical disease sector know me as Wycliff Omondi. Where I come from Omondi means ‘a boy born in the morning hours’. You’ll find many Omondi’s where I come from.
Interestingly, my middle name is a Catholic name despite having been raised by Anglican parents in a dominantly Anglican town. I was attracted by the Catholic church and the ceremonies, so I joined – where I was asked to pick a Saint name. I landed on Peter, whom I learned was the greatest disciple.
I am the Head of the Vector Borne & Neglected Tropical Diseases Unit at the Ministry of Health in Kenya. My unit falls under the Disease Surveillance and Response Division, which reports to the Directorate of Public Health and Sanitation domiciled within the Public Health and Professional Standards Department. The unit I lead is tasked with ensuring that neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are under control and where possible eliminated as guided by the global roadmaps.

I come from western Kenya, a land of many lakes and bodies of water. Lake Victoria is where I was born and raised. While beautiful, that part of the country unfortunately, is plagued with a number of these vector borne diseases that I now work to eliminate.
In fact, when I was younger, I vividly remember coming down with malaria on multiple occasions – one probable reason why I am steering the docket I lead at the Ministry of Health, because I am so familiar with these diseases. I realize now that I probably only found relief from malaria once I came to the capital city in pursuit of my undergraduate degree. Before that, I used to get sick with Malaria at least every two weeks.
I also recall catching jiggers, a neglected tropical disease – essentially a parasitic flea – that develops in dung that borrows its head into feet, generally the closest thing to the ground. We used to go to school barefoot, although my parents had the means to buy shoes. It didn’t bother me because that’s just how everyone would commute to school. One day a jigger flea burrowed into my toe. To this day I tell people that I have pretty feet and all my toes look good, despite my one toe that is protruding from the rest.
Malaria and jiggers aside, the lake region is also home to schistosomiasis, commonly referred to as bilharzia. I remember having to fetch water from the lake or the rivers to bathe, but because my mother was a teacher at the polytechnic institute, we were lucky to have running water inside our homes. That being said, I vividly remember seeing bilharzia when I was about 8 or 9 years old.

We used to hear stories about boys urinating blood and in school we would sometimes see trails of blood in our urinals flowing through. Somehow, the kids used to believe that it was some sort of rite of passage to pass blood and as children we never really paid it too much attention. So when I caught bilharzia at that young age, it took me weeks before telling my mother because of the myths I had believed. When the bleeding persisted, I told my mother who immediately rushed me to the hospital where I got a shot – I still remember the pain from that injection to this day which has left a scar. I still carry the living memory of bilharzia, because it’s a pretty big scar. For me, bilharzia has become a part and parcel of my life, especially now that I have decided to dedicate my life towards its elimination.
My journey into the neglected tropical disease sector was highly influenced by the diseases that I caught myself, but my biggest inspiration was the only doctor we had in my village, Dr. Ochieng Adala. I grew up closely watching his career in a village where the viable career options were teaching, farmering, tradering, or caring for animals. Seeing him at work definitely gave me the drive to go into the medical field.

What really gave me the push was hearing Dr. Adala say that death due to malaria is preventable if only patients would have come to the hospital earlier. That was when I knew that the medical field was calling my name – I wanted to be the next Dr Adala.
I ended up signing up for the Bachelors of Science course, which I believed would get me closer to the diseases that I grew up seeing damage so many people’s lives. I slowly began to focus on biological courses, specializing in zoology and botany. I studied everything that caused harm and diseases to humans from animals to plants, leading me into a neglected tropical disease speciality.
Although my passion was always laid in science, my path into neglected tropical diseases wasn’t straightforward. After an internship at the UN ended, I struggled to find a job. I even moved into banking for a short period, but I still knew the medical field was calling. So when I came across a couple of job vacancies advertised in a newspaper by the Ministry of Health about 10 years ago, I was ecstatic. They were looking for a medical parasitologist and a medical entomologist, so I applied for both roles. They were looking for a dozen people in each role so I ended up getting called for the interviews and was hired as a medical parasitologist.

My journey with the Ministry of Health in Kenya started in 2012 – a dream come true. A year later, the neglected tropical disease unit was born, when a couple of the other medical parasitologists ended up joining.
While working in the neglected tropical disease unit, I decided to pursue my Master’s in applied parasitology – fully sponsored by the Ministry.
It was also around the time the neglected tropical disease activities had started picking up. Then, in 2021, I began heading the unit when my line manager was reassigned to another department.
My role has been challenging, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to pursue my passion and be part of the solution to eliminate these neglected tropical diseases that I grew up with. My joy would be to see at least 1 or 2 neglected tropical diseases eliminated during my tenure as the head of the unit. I am very hopeful that we will manage to free the community members that have been burdened by NTDs and neglected for so long.