Contributed by Dr P M Barnes
Professor Valerian Kimati was an outstanding Tanzanian Paediatrician, who made a major contribution to the development of academic and clinical paediatrics in Tanzania. He excelled as a student and after graduation served as a District Medical Officer for 5 years before going to Glasgow for postgraduate training. He was a Heinz Fellow of the British Paediatric Association.
Returning to Tanzania in 1972 he had a distinguished career, becoming the first Tanzanian Professor of Paediatrics in 1979 in the University of Dar-es-Salaam. He pioneered the establishment of the M.Med Programme in Paediatrics, attracting many Tanzanian academics and paediatricians. Her served on many committees; was President of the Medical Association of Tanzania 1978-1980 becoming its first President.
He resigned in 1982 after appointment as UNICEF Regional Adviser in Primary Care for South Central Asia and later Nigeria, responsible for planning government programmes in immunisation, nutrition, oral rehydration therapy, guinea worm, malaria and HIV control. After retirement at the age of 60, he began a new career as Professor of Paediatrics at the International Medical and Technological University in Dar-es-Salaam where he was appointed the first Tanzanian Vice-Chancellor, working hard to develop higher education in Tanzania.
He published 3 books locally, contributed chapters to international books and published 38 papers, his research addressing the many practical problems faced in his daily clinical work. Though he never won the WHO Child Health Prize, the Tanzanian Government nominated him for it on two occasions. Both he and his wife had a strong Christian faith; from his teens he played the organ in his local church. Their faith found practical expression in the establishment of a Dispensary in their neighbourhood. His charismatic and friendly personality made him a popular teacher and colleague; his untimely death in a road traffic accident has robbed Tanzania of one of its brightest and most able sons. He is survived by his wife Eugenia, a daughter Catherine and son John.