The Memory Clinic at the Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health (AFRIMEB)
The Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health (AFRIMEB) has established a comprehensive Memory Clinic, a significant milestone in advancing cognitive health services in Kenya and the wider African region. This specialized clinical service has been developed with protocols and procedures that align with internationally recognized standards, positioning it as a center of excellence comparable to memory clinics in high-resource settings across Europe, North America, and Australia. The Memory Clinic addresses a critical gap in mental and brain health services by providing dedicated assessment, diagnosis, and intervention for individuals experiencing memory-related challenges, cognitive decline, and dementia-spectrum conditions.
The clinic serves multiple stakeholder groups with carefully designed access pathways. Individuals who notice memory difficulties in themselves, family members, or are concerned about cognitive changes in their loved ones. They are encouraged to contact AFRIMEB directly for an appointment. This patient-centered approach removes barriers to early intervention and enables community members to proactively seek help before the condition progresses. Additionally, the Memory Clinic recognizes the vital role of primary healthcare providers and specialists in the continuum of care. Health professionals across Kenya can refer their clients for comprehensive memory assessments, enabling a collaborative model in which general practitioners and specialists work together to optimize patient outcomes. This referral pathway is particularly important given that many memory-related conditions require specialized diagnostic tools, neuropsychological testing, neuroimaging (such as MRI or CT scans), and longitudinal monitoring that may not be available in standard clinical settings. Tele-consultation is being developed to help people who may be far from the AFRIMEB clinic and require the services. This is both within Kenya and beyond its borders,
The Memory Clinic’s assessment protocol is thorough and evidence-based, incorporating multiple dimensions of cognitive evaluation. The clinical team conducts detailed patient histories, cognitive screening using standardized instruments, mental status examinations (that assess orientation, memory, attention, language, executive function), comprehensive reviews of medical history, medications, lifestyle factors, and psychosocial circumstances. Physical examination complements these cognitive assessments, and advanced diagnostic investigations (including brain imaging and potentially biomarker studies) are utilized when clinically indicated to differentiate between various forms of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and other neurological conditions. Following diagnosis, the clinic provides essential post-diagnostic services including treatment planning, pharmacological interventions where appropriate, psychological therapies such as cognitive stimulation and reminiscence therapy, caregiver support and education, and connections to community resources. The clinic also serves as a platform for dementia research, generating locally relevant evidence that informs policy and best practices for affordable, accessible mental health services across the continent.
By establishing this Memory Clinic, AFRIMEB continues its mission to improve mental and cognitive health outcomes for underserved populations while advancing the field through research, training, and advocacy. The clinic embodies a holistic approach to brain health that recognizes memory disorders not merely as individual medical conditions but as complex challenges requiring multidisciplinary expertise, family involvement, community awareness, and systemic health system strengthening.
