• DNDi-20_Logo_No-Tagline_EN_Full Colour
  • Our work
    • Diseases
      • Sleeping sickness
      • Visceral leishmaniasis
      • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
      • Chagas disease
      • Filaria: river blindness
      • Mycetoma
      • Paediatric HIV
      • Cryptococcal meningitis
      • Hepatitis C
      • Dengue
      • COVID-19
      • Antimicrobial resistance
    • Research & development
      • R&D portfolio & list of projects
      • Drug discovery
      • Translational research
      • Clinical trials
      • Registration & access
      • Treatments delivered
    • Advocacy
      • Open and collaborative R&D
      • Transparency of R&D costs
      • Pro-access policies
  • Networks & partners
    • Partnerships
      • Our partners
      • Partnering with us
    • Global networks
      • Chagas Platform
      • HAT Platform
      • HELP Helminth Elimination Platform
      • LEAP Platform
      • redeLEISH Network
    • DNDi worldwide
      • DNDi Switzerland
      • DNDi DRC
      • DNDi Eastern Africa
      • DNDi Japan
      • DNDi Latin America
      • DNDi North America
      • DNDi South Asia/India
      • DNDi South-East Asia
      • DNDi Southern Africa
  • News & resources
    • News & stories
      • News
      • Stories
      • Statements
      • Viewpoints
      • Social media
      • eNews Newsletter
    • Press
      • Press releases
      • In the media
    • Resources
      • Scientific articles
      • Our publications
      • Videos
    • Events
  • About us
    • About
      • Who we are
      • How we work
      • Our strategy
      • Our donors
      • Annual reports
    • Our people
      • Our leadership
      • Our governance
      • Contact us
    • Work with us
      • Working at DNDi
      • Job opportunities
      • Requests for proposal
  • Donate
  • DNDi-20_Logo_No-Tagline_EN_Full Colour
  • Our work
    • Diseases
      • Sleeping sickness
      • Visceral leishmaniasis
      • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
      • Chagas disease
      • Filaria: river blindness
      • Mycetoma
      • Paediatric HIV
      • Cryptococcal meningitis
      • Hepatitis C
      • Dengue
      • COVID-19
      • Antimicrobial resistance
    • Research & development
      • R&D portfolio & list of projects
      • Drug discovery
      • Translational research
      • Clinical trials
      • Registration & access
      • Treatments delivered
    • Advocacy
      • Open and collaborative R&D
      • Transparency of R&D costs
      • Pro-access policies
  • Networks & partners
    • Partnerships
      • Our partners
      • Partnering with us
    • Global networks
      • Chagas Platform
      • HAT Platform
      • HELP Helminth Elimination Platform
      • LEAP Platform
      • redeLEISH Network
    • DNDi worldwide
      • DNDi Switzerland
      • DNDi DRC
      • DNDi Eastern Africa
      • DNDi Japan
      • DNDi Latin America
      • DNDi North America
      • DNDi South Asia/India
      • DNDi South-East Asia
      • DNDi Southern Africa
  • News & resources
    • News & stories
      • News
      • Stories
      • Statements
      • Viewpoints
      • Social media
      • eNews Newsletter
    • Press
      • Press releases
      • In the media
    • Resources
      • Scientific articles
      • Our publications
      • Videos
    • Events
  • About us
    • About
      • Who we are
      • How we work
      • Our strategy
      • Our donors
      • Annual reports
    • Our people
      • Our leadership
      • Our governance
      • Contact us
    • Work with us
      • Working at DNDi
      • Job opportunities
      • Requests for proposal
  • Donate
Home > Stories

‘We are building a generation of scientists who will transform research in Africa’

Home > Stories

‘We are building a generation of scientists who will transform research in Africa’

Healthcare worker looking into a microscope
20 Oct 2021
Share on twitter
Share on facebook
Share on linkedin
Share on email
Share on print

Among major institutional funders in global health, only one focuses exclusively on financing clinical research and supporting scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa: the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), a partnership between African and European countries co-funded by the European Union (EU). Why is the EDCTP so involved in using research to bring much-needed drugs to patients in the region? We wanted to know more.

African sleeping sickness, known as human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) has historically been a deeply neglected disease, but the rhodesiense variant of the disease is even more neglected. While the gambiense variant found mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen more awareness, funding, and innovation the past years, rhodesiense is deadlier but represents only 15% of the total burden. This has proven frustrating for researchers.

‘We struggled for years to find funding to develop a new treatment – even though existing treatments are highly toxic,’ said Dr Olaf Valverde, Clinical Project Leader at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). Luckily an innovative partnership known as EDCTP exists to support exactly this type of research.

Eventually DNDi was able to receive EDCTP funding to launch the HAT-r-ACC project, which includes a clinical trial now being carried out in Malawi and Uganda to evaluate the efficacy of the drug fexinidazole against rhodesiense.

Fexinidazole tablet
Fexinidazole tablet

‘Our clinical trial would never have existed without EDCTP’s support,’ said Dr Valverde. Dr Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, Director of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) at DNDi, agrees. ‘There are few patients but the impact of the trial in terms of potential benefits for the affected population is immense,’ she said.

The EU is one of the world’s largest public funders of medical research. EDCTP was created in 2003 as a partnership between 17 Sub-Saharan African and 14 EU countries(1). Its funding(2) comes from the European Commission, participating countries, and public and private partners (third parties). It is focusing on funding medical research in Africa – initially HIV, TB, and malaria, with the important addition of NTDs a few years later.

‘Infectious diseases are the largest causes of death and ill health, and affect the productivity of the population in affected countries. These diseases are really holding them back,’ explained Dr Michael Makanga, Executive Director of EDCTP. ‘As a key driver to the diagnosis, prevention and management of infectious diseases, medical research is therefore directly related to people’s well-being and economic development.’

A perspective echoed by Dr Anthony Solomon, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Department of Control of NTDs, during a session of the Tenth EDCTP Forum held this week in Mozambique: ‘NTDs are ‘diseases of poverty’ and investment in them is one of the most economically effective of all available tools in global health,’ he said. ‘Such intervention can deliver powerfully effective results.’

DNDi is currently involved in seven EDCTP-funded projects, including a consortium to find improved health tools for visceral leishmaniasis in Eastern Africa.

Among the many examples of other successful EDCTP-supported programmes, Michael Makanga highlights the Pediatric Praziquantel consortium, which is developing a child-friendly formulation of a treatment for schistosomiasis and which brought together research institutes on three continents, Japanese and German pharmaceutical companies, and the Ministries of Health of Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda(3).

After the phase III work was done [phase III clinical trials evaluate how well a treatment works compared with a standard treatment], the Praziquantel project attracted another round of funding, this time to develop a child-friendly formulation of the treatment. ‘The strong engagement of the African partners in countries where the work is being done has been crucial,’ said Dr Makanga.

Such a strong level of ownership is by design: EDCTP was created as a partnership with equal engagement from Sub-Saharan and European countries. For each project it supports, EDCTP requires the active involvement of African organizations and leaders. ‘This is a virtuous model that aligns perfectly with our own approach and philosophy about research on NTDs,’ said Dr Strub-Wourgaft. ‘This is the collaboration model DNDi is advocating. With EDCTP, we speak the same language.’

These collaborative partnerships support the second core objective of EDCTP action: capacity building. With less than 200 researchers per million people in 2017 (compared to more than 4 000 in US or UK), Africa needs more trained scientists to develop its full potential in science and innovation. EDCTP has supported more than 1400 postgraduate long-term training for African scientists, the majority of whom are continuing their careers in Africa. Over 26,000 people have been trained through short-term trainings in EDCTP projects. 

This figure does not include the hundreds more scientists organically trained in the field, in the context of EDCTP-funded clinical trials. For example, DNDi’s HAT-r-ACC project involves medical teams in provincial hospitals with no previous experience in clinical research. The EDCTP grant included training in clinical studies, protocol and procedures. ‘Such competences are actually having a spillover effect because they also end up improving patients care,’ said Dr Valverde.

EDCTP is also contributing to institutional capacity in terms of the regulatory environments and ethics, so national authorities are better equipped to cope with the growing complexity of clinical studies.

‘In terms of the importance of capacity building, the COVID-19 pandemic was really an eye-opener,’ said Dr Makanga. ‘Many scientists involved in the conduct of clinical trials in Africa have been called to join the national advisory COVID-19 committees of their governments and have played a crucial role in identifying local priorities in the pandemic response of their countries. The expertise they developed in different diseases was put to good use when combating COVID-19.’

Infrastructure matters too. ‘Countries with better integration of research with national health systems, and with robust health and demographic surveillance systems developed for other diseases, have responded much better to the pandemic,‘ said Dr Makanga. ‘The COVID-19 calamity might therefore encourage policy-makers and influential people to look at research as an important driver for the well-being of the populations and their economic development.’

Looking at the future of research on the continent, the EDCTP director does not hide his optimism and enthusiasm: ‘Scientific excellence and leadership are growing. We have a new generation of researchers with the ability to initiate research ideas, who are globally connected and able to tap into outside resources to conduct local research of global relevance. To me, that is very exciting.’

‘We are building a generation of scientists who are going to transform the research environment in Africa. The work we are doing has a multiplier effect that is changing the lives of the research communities in the countries… and that is, ultimately, transforming the lives of people.’


(1) The 16 African member countries are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The 14 European member countries are Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and UK. Angola and Switzerland are aspirant members.

(2) The EDCTP programme is supported by the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, called Horizon 2000. Horizon 2020 will provide up to €683 million for the current EDCTP programme (2014-2024), provided this is matched by contributions from the European EDCTP partner countries.

(3) Full list of partners here: Consortium partners | Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium

Photo credit: Emmanuel Museruka-DNDi; Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft-DNDi

Funding Partnership Strengthening Capacities Sleeping sickness Africa

Read, watch, share

Loading...
Statements
1 Feb 2023

DNDi interventions at the 152nd session of the WHO Executive Board

Young man sitting in hospital setting
News
25 Jan 2023

It’s time medical innovation reached the 1.7 billion people affected by neglected tropical diseases: World NTD Day 2023

Film Poster Voices of Leishmaniasis: Shushi from India
Videos
25 Jan 2023

Voices of leishmaniasis: Shishu from India

Child receiving treatment
News
20 Jan 2023

DNDi’s 20th year of bringing the best science for the most neglected

Child affected by dengue and her mother at their home in Bangkok, Thailand.
Stories
16 Dec 2022

2022: Six advances in neglected disease research to remember

Statements
2 Dec 2022

DNDi‘s comments on the conceptual zero draft for the consideration of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at INB3

Healthcare workers discussing in hospital setting
Press releases
1 Dec 2022

DNDi partners in a new NIHR-funded Global Health Research Group on HIV-associated Fungal Infections (IMPRINT)

Healthcare workers looking into microscopes
Press releases
30 Nov 2022

Acoziborole: Investigational single-dose oral treatment raises hope for elimination of sleeping sickness in Africa

VIEW ALL

Help neglected patients

To date, we have delivered twelve new treatments, saving millions of lives.

Our goal is to deliver 25 new treatments in our first 25 years. You can help us get there. 

GIVE NOW
Facebook-f
Twitter
Instagram
Linkedin-in
Youtube
International non-profit developing safe, effective, and affordable treatments for the most neglected patients.

Learn more

  • Diseases
  • Neglected tropical diseases
  • R&D portfolio
  • Policy advocacy

Get in touch

  • Our offices
  • Contact us
  • Integrity Line

Support us

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to eNews

Work with us

  • Join research networks
  • Jobs
  • RFPs
  • Terms of Use   
  •   Acceptable Use Policy   
  •   Privacy Policy   
  •   Cookie Policy   
  •   Our policies   

  • Except for images, films and trademarks which are subject to DNDi’s Terms of Use, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Switzerland License   
We use cookies to track our audience and improve our content. By clicking 'Accept All', you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Click on 'Customize' to accept only some cookies.
Customize
ACCEPT ALL
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
PHPSESSIDsessionThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
elementorneverThis cookie is used by the website's WordPress theme. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_16Q5RH3XRG2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_UA-10302561-11 minuteA variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.
_hjFirstSeen30 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit.
_hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.
_hjSession_112884430 minutesHotjar sets this cookie.
_hjSessionUser_11288441 yearHotjar sets this cookie.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Targeting
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo