Pan-African lobby launches US$70 million program to boost health research

The Science for Africa (SFA) Foundation, a non-profit lobby that promotes science and innovation in Africa, on Thursday launched a 70-million-U.S.-dollar program to revitalize health research in the continent.

Beneficiaries of the new funding include academic and research entities spread across the continent that will be tasked with generating and disseminating new knowledge on tackling health challenges like malaria, cancer, and anti-microbial resistance, the SFA Foundation said in a statement issued in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Domiciled in the second phase of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) program, the new funding from bilateral and corporate donors is expected to stimulate evidence-based research that will inform action on the continent’s public health challenges linked to poverty, climate change, and policy gaps, according to the foundation.

Thomas Kariuki, the executive director of the SFA Foundation, said with adequate funding, it will be possible to advance collaborative research that seeks to inform policy responses to public health challenges in the continent.

Kariuki added that closing the health research funding gap will boost the capacity of African countries to diagnose, treat and manage vector-borne diseases that are a drain on public coffers.

The second phase of the DELTAS Africa program covering 2023 to 2025 will fund research that looks at the interconnectedness of climate change, food security, and health, besides advancing knowledge on the management of infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases and lifestyle diseases, the foundation said.

Alphonsus Neba, deputy director of programs at the SFA Foundation, who also serves as program manager for DELTAS Africa, said it is envisaged that under the new funding, a new generation of scientific leaders will emerge to help reinvigorate health research and innovations in the continent. Enditem