Healthcare and public health research

A multidisciplinary consortium of African and European researchers responded to the urgent call from the European Union by developing a research project on the current Monkeypox outbreak in central Africa.

The spread of Mpox virus (MPXV) in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo (RoC) presents an urgent public health concern with global implications. MPXV cases have been reported across 114 countries with 89,752 confirmed reports and >150 deaths. It has the highest prevalence in DRC and has resulted in twice the number of deaths in the African region compared to Europe. RoC, a DRC bordering country, is also experiencing a surge in positive cases, highlighting an urgent need for data-driven efforts to identify transmission routes and implement public health initiatives. MPOX-PROBE is responding to this call for action with an international consortium and activities in three main pillars:

(1) improving epidemiological surveillance of Mpox with new diagnostics and sampling efforts including high-risk areas and vulnerable populations;

2) capacity building to improve diagnostic and research capacities of researchers and public health workers in DRC and RoC;

3) strengthening public health response by sharing surveillance data and newly developed spatiotemporal risk and transmission models for Mpox.
Through MPOX-PROBE, this consortium will create actionable data to uncover MPXV transmission routes and natural reservoirs facilitating development of effective interventional packages. The transmission and risks models will allow prediction of future or emerging outbreaks and develop initiatives to prevent further spread. Together, these efforts will benefit vulnerable populations and
general public in sub-Saharan Africa alike while also performing ground-breaking research to understand transmission mechanisms.

African-European Symposium: Challenges in Research Ethics Assessment, 13:00 – 18:00 CET, May 25th, 2021.

The symposium, organised by The Embassy of Good Science, in collaboration with EUREC, BERC-Luso, AfriEthique, and LiberHetica, aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences and perspectives on research ethics assessment challenges between African and European experts. The symposium is organized into four sessions in which experts will present on challenges and solutions related to the theme of their session. A panel discussion will follow the speaker presentations https://bit.ly/3tqlS9H.

The symposium will be live streamed here (no registration required):

https://zoom.us/j/92564963152?pwd=M3JnYWNYNEU2eVYrR3NrUG5vSWR1QT09

Passcode: sN6yzc

The Congolese National Medicines Regulatory Authority (DPM) with WHO to guarantee the development and circulation of safe and effective drugs, by implementing the Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT)

As part of the strengthening of health systems and in particular the regulation of drugs and health products within the Africlinique project, the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), and the WHO Country Office (PO) in the Republic of Congo provided technical assistance to support the Directorate of Pharmacy and Medicine (DPM) of Congo from February 15 to 19 2021 in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo).

The Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) integrates the Maturity Level (ML) of the various drug regulatory functions in a computerized platform that facilitates its use and the ranking of maturity indicators. This self-assessment has enabled several countries in the sub-region to identify their ML as well as to put in place institutional development plans (IDPs) in order to access a ML which guarantees safety, quality and effectiveness of drugs in development and in circulation.

Click here to for news release in English.

SEARCH project kick-off meeting

After months of intense preparation, the SEARCH (SouthErn Africa Regulatory for Clinical researcH) will have its project kick-off meeting. The Partners from all countries of SEARCH Consortium (Mozambique, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and UK), together with the invited relevant stakeholders, will meet on February 18, 2021. Click here for more information: https://bit.ly/3jEUzFg

This EDCTP-funded project is aimed at increasing the regulatory capacities for review of clinical trials in Southern Africa by establishing European-African collaborations that facilitates implementation of efficient processes, harmonized procedures, standardized guidelines and effective training programs.

Second European-African training for the Congolese team on “SARS-CoV-2 detection by ApoH enzyme”

As part of the implementation of ITAIL-COVID-19 project funded by the European Development Countries Partnership for Clinical Trials (EDCTP) and coordinated by the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM), the Congolose team of this project participated on January 14, 2021 in the second online practical training on “SARS-CoV-2 detection by the ApoH“. Supervised by the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), this second practical training allowed participants to become familiar with this ultrasensitive virus detection technique. The training on this new technology was carried out by Dr. Carolyn Thibal (ApoH-Technologies) and Professor Francisco Veas, from IRD Montpellier – France. This technique will detect newly infected people with very low viral load, not possible to be detected with conventional methods, including classic RT-PCR. This ApoH detection will be very helpful for monitoring health workers who are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic. The first training was held on September 2020.

Exemplary coordination of African researchers and scientists

Exemplary coordination of African researchers and scientists involved in the response to the pandemic to study treatments that prevent serious complications of COVID-19 https://bit.ly/37SvaCz

What if tropical diseases had as much attention as COVID?

In this article published by Nature, Prof. Francine Ntoumi addresses how the efforts to tackle Covid-19 are consequently and tragically neglecting all other diseases, for which it is estimated that all the important achiviements in terms of reducing of these recent years will be lost https://go.nature.com/2Kui5as

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse recent progress in reducing the global burden of Tuberculosis

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse recent progress in reducing the global burden of tuberculosis. The global number of deaths for tuberculosis could increase by around 200.000–400.000 in 2020 alone, as result of essential tuberculosis services disruptions due to the reallocation of human, financial and other resources from tuberculosis to the COVID-19 response, as reported by WHO: https://bit.ly/35KyzD

INTEGRATION

“This project will improve malaria prevention strategies for both children, pregnant women and families as a whole as the study is being conducted in families which will raise awareness of malaria prevention. Furthermore, the proposed strategy can reduce the high risk estimated by the WHO that deaths from malaria double as a result of the interruption of interventions due to the Covid-19 pandemic “, are the words of the evaluators appointed by the European Commission (EDCTP) to examine the INTEGRATION project proposal.
Trusting in a positive outcome, the consortium of African and European researchers who developed the project proposal (Mali, Burkina Faso, France, U.K. and Italy) is now committed to providing further information and clarification to the assessors, who will complete the evaluation in January 2021.

From 2003 at the forefront of supporting Sub-Saharan Africa’s response to poverty-related infectious diseases, EDCTP plays a key role also in the African response to Covid-19

The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a public-public partnership between countries in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, supported by the European Union, which since 2003 has been accelerating the clinical development of new or improved medicines for the identification, treatment and prevention of poverty-related infectious diseases, is also at the forefront of supporting Sub-Saharan Africa’s response to COVID-19 https://bit.ly/2TDonGd idー19