Wellcome Trust Strategy for Strengthening Health Research Capacity in Africa Medical Education Partnership Annual Symposium 2011 7 th March 2011 Dr Val Snewin Internal Activities Manager
International funding Henry Wellcome s legacy Support over 3000 researchers in more than 50 different countries Total spend approx 720 million p.a (2009 figures) 103.2 million for international activities We will take forwards major initiatives to build research capacity in India and Africa We help to create world-class research environments in the locations in which we fund
Wellcome Trust Vision and strategic aims Our vision is to support extraordinary improvements in human and animal health by: Supporting outstanding researchers at all stages of their careers; creating the best research environments; influencing the policy landscape Accelerating the application of research - stimulating technology transfer, clinical research and uptake to policy & practice Exploring medicine in historical and cultural contexts by fostering medical humanities, education & public engagement Five major challenges: 1. Maximising the health benefits of genetics and genomics 2. Understanding the brain 3. Combating infectious disease 4. Investigating development, ageing and chronic disease 5. Connecting environment, nutrition and health
Global Health Research - Strategy Board of Governors paper Feb 2006, updated July 2010 Defined to: Broaden the research base for scientific endeavour in under-resourced environments Support areas of science that have potential for increasing health benefits for people and livestock Support international networks and partnerships focused on problems of resource-poor countries
Main funding mechanisms: for UK and LMIC applicants 1. Fellowships in health research at different levels Creating a career pathways for researchers Public Health and Tropical Medicine 2. Investigator and Senior Investigator Awards New scheme, replacing project and programme grants Based on a scientific vision, up to 7 years funding 3. Strategic Awards Flagship projects and/or Collaborations 4. Global Health Trials in Low and Middle income countries 5. Public Engagement and Biomedical Ethics Awards 6. Technology Transfer Strategic Translation Awards Preliminary applications required for proposals
Research Environment To ensure that researchers can work and train in world-class environments we provide long-term support for centres of excellence in low- and middleincome countries and provide funding for research infrastructure
Major Overseas Programmes (MOPs) Mahidol University, Bangkok. Sites across Thailand and Lao Director: Nick Day Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Director: Jeremy Farrar Chairman: Nick White Wellcome Trust financial commitment to MOPs: ~ 30 million / year ~ 130 million / year total current commitment KEMRI, Nairobi, Kilifi Director: Kevin Marsh Africa Centre, KwaZulu-Natal Director: Marie-Louise Newell College of Medicine, Blantyre Director: Rob Heyderman
African Institutions Initiative 7 awards made to consortia involving 70 institutions (50 in Africa) 5 year period starting August 2009 (renewable) 28m in total
AfriqueOne: African Research Consortium for Ecosystem and Population Health Director: Professor Bassirou Bonfoh, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique en Cote d Ivoire CARTA: Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa Director: Dr Alex Ezeh, African Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya SACIDS: One Medicine Africa-UK Research Capacity Development Partnership Programme for Infectious Diseases in Southern Africa Director: Professor Mark Rweyemamu, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania SACORE: Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence Director: Dr Newton Kumwenda, Malawi College of Medicine, Malawi THRiVE: Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa Director: Professor Nelson Sewankambo, Makerere University, Uganda SNOWS: Strengthening research capacity in environmental health Director: Professor Esi Awuah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Ghana IIDP: Research Institute for Infectious Diseases of Poverty Director: Dr Margaret Gyapong, Dodowa Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service
National Systems Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative Aims: strengthen capacity for generation of health research knowledge improve its use in evidence-based decision making, policy formulation and implementation Focused on Kenya and Malawi Mechanism: Foster and nurture national research grant-giving bodies, ( 10 million to each country) Consortium for National Health Research Kenya (NGO) National Commission for Science and Technology GoM Implementation Phase: 5 years from February 2008 HRCS Learning: to document the process
Initiative to Strengthen Health Research Capacity in Africa (ISHReCA) Background: Kilifi Meeting March 2007. To develop an African health research standing committee for regular meetings, with funders also invited to join Aim: promote self-sustaining pools of researchers capable of initiating and carrying out high quality health research in Africa Mission: facilitating translation of research products into policy and practice through integrated approaches to capacity building at individual, institutional and system levels ISHReCA Steering Committee members: Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Mozambique Secretariat: Tropical Disease Research (TDR) WHO See: http://ishreca.tropika.net/
www.wellcome.ac.uk/globalhealth
Our philosophy: Networks and Consortia Major Overseas Programmes (centres, satellites, hubs and spokes) Teams (programmes, fellowships) People (projects, fellowships)
Fellowship schemes for LMIC researchers* Senior Research Fellowships Principal Research Fellowship Research Training Fellowship/PhD Intermediate Research Fellowship MSc/PhD training PhD 3 yrs Post-doc 5 yrs Post-doc 10 yrs Post-doc *which aim to stimulate and foster research on public health and tropical medicine
International Engagement Funding Committee 30,000 awards, committee meetings, twice a year 15 awards at 1st meeting, ~ 0.5 million Partnerships, NGOs and communities: local audiences, policy makers national and continent-wide examples global networks Listening to other voices - open mind for engagement See: www.wellcome.ac.uk/internationalengagement
Biomedical Ethics - Low and Middle Income country applicants Research Studentships: training in research and methods Research Travel Grants: short-term collaborative research and networking Symposia: ethical issues arising from research or healthcare practice in Low and Middle income countries Project Grants: research project on biomedical ethics Applications must demonstrate local relevance
Global Health Trials To strengthen the evidence base for improving health in low- and middle-income countries Up to 12 million per year For late-stage trials of health interventions 2 nd round call for outline applications, August 2011 See: www.mrc.ac.uk/jointghtrials
Strategic Awards in Africa (Feb 2008) 1. Alison Elliott - Infection and Immunity Research and Training for Uganda: research capacity of the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe with Makerere University, 1 million 2. Rob Wilkinson - Centre for Clinical Infectious Diseases Research (CIDRI), Cape Town, South Africa. 3 million 3. Brian Greenwood Malaria Research Capacity Development Consortium in Africa (MCDC), building on the Gates Malaria Partnership programme, 7.3 million 4. Kevin Marsh - Developing Research Capacity and Leadership in East Africa from the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya, 8 million
Consortium for National Health Research (CNHR) Kenya 6 Research Leadership grants for research, training and infrastructure, total 1.24 million for three years 7 associated PhD studentships and one post-doctoral placement 20 graduate student 6-month research placements as interns in universities, research institutes, Government Ministries and State laboratories 4 Communities of Research Excellence (CoReS) selected July 2010, 1.5 m available for 3 years Ethics regulations, raising the profile of science with young Kenyans, establishing a knowledge-sharing platform to facilitate policy making See: http://cnhrkenya.org/
National Systems Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative Aims: strengthen capacity for generation of health research knowledge improve its use in evidence-based decision making, policy formulation and implementation Focused on Kenya and Malawi Mechanism: Foster and nurture national research grant-giving bodies, ( 10 million to each country) Consortium for National Health Research Kenya (NGO) National Commission for Science and Technology GoM Implementation Phase: 5 years from February 2008 HRCS Learning: to document the process