The RESYST annual meeting was held in Kilifi, Kenya from 10 to 14 October 2016, hosted by KEMRI-WT. The annual meeting is always an important opportunity to build and strengthen ties within the consortium and for catalysing energy amongst participants. The meeting activities included: theme-specific discussions to identify key messages for dissemination; planning to finish papers and outputs (including multimedia outputs); planning for HSR 2016 Symposium; large and small group sessions to allow initial thinking of plans for the RESYST extension; and reviewing of research uptake activities and current and future work. The meeting continued its tradition of allowing younger members to actively participate by assigning roles such rapporteuring and facilitating activities and discussions. A very successful policy forum consisting of a panel discussion about the Kenyan devolution with Kilifi county and national policymakers consolidated the meeting. For more information on RESYST: http://resyst.lshtm.ac.uk/