The Cancer Registry at KEMRI began in 2001 as a project funded by the US National Cancer Institute, focusing on the population of Nairobi province (now Nairobi County). This was after consultations with key stakeholders including Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation (WHO) and key treatment facilities. In 2012 it was established as a unit within the Centre for Clinical Research (CCR) and more staffing were hired and deployed to the unit.
In 2016 through a grant from the Kenya Government (National Treasury) and the US National Cancer Institute (https://www.cancer.gov/) the registry was expanded to cover more counties and a central repository, the Kenya Cancer Registry, was established to pool the population-based data.