Forum news

The Twelfth EDCTP Forum has cemented its position as a premier event in the global health calendar and as a symbol of the close relationship between Europe and Africa. 

 As the Honourable Minister Dr Sabin Nsanzimana summarised at the opening ceremony of the Twelfth EDCTP Forum, Rwanda has achieved impressive and rapid progress in life expectancy and in other key health indicators. A key contributory factor has been its commitment to investing in the health of its population and in health research, in collaboration with multiple international partners. 

Developers of new interventions are increasingly considering population access at the beginning of the development process rather than when a new product has been approved.

New product development is technically challenging. When products do not have a commercial market, product development faces additional hurdles, with active measures being needed to ensure that innovations reach populations in need. A parallel session chaired by Lisa Goerlitz (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW), Belgium) heard how developers and other stakeholders are addressing these challenges.

The EDCTP Knowledge Hub, part of The Global Health Network (TGHN), is developing a new module to help researchers optimise the impact of the work on policy and practice.

On Thursday morning, Lara Pandya (Global Health EDCTP3) and Professor Trudie Lang (TGHN) described ongoing work on the development of a fourth module within the EDCTP Knowledge Hub, part of TGHN. Launched 15 years ago, TGHN provides a platform to promote information sharing, community building and skills development in global health research. 

A stimulating debate on Thursday afternoon highlighted multiple ways in which stronger and more equitable partnerships could help to build a more resilient and productive clinical trial ecosystem in Africa.

The limited number of clinical trials taking place in Africa was highlighted multiple times during the Forum. At a parallel session, introduced by Caxton Murira (Science for Africa Foundation, Kenya), representatives from funders and other agencies discussed some of the ways in which the clinical trial ecosystem in Africa could be strengthened to address this imbalance.

The Forum’s closing ceremony provided an opportunity to reflect on its successes, key themes and implications for the future.

First up, and prompted by local media personality Jackie Lumbasi, panellists who had played key roles in putting the Forum together gave their impressions on the past few days. Dr Eric Remera (Rwanda Biomedical Centre), part of the local organising committee, suggested that Rwanda had been keen to host the Forum in order to share its successes but also to learn from others. 

In a riveting keynote address, Professor Tulio de Oliviera described how African-led initiatives are expanding the use of genomic technologies to detect, respond to and prevent outbreaks on the continent – and will be vital tools as climate change drives changes to infectious disease in Africa.

This year’s winner of the EDCTP Scientific Leadership Prize for African men, Professor de Oliviera (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) played a key role in South Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He helped to establish a national network that led to the identification of the beta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which triggered further investment from the South African Government. An expanded multidisciplinary collaboration went on to identify the omicron variant.

Even as two malaria vaccines are being rolled out across multiple African countries, work continues on the next generation of products that will provide even better protection and drive forward malaria elimination.

Malaria remains one of the biggest health challenges facing Africa. It causes around 600,000 deaths a year, mostly of children but also including 50,000 maternal deaths and 200,000 stillbirths. The approval of two malaria vaccines – RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M – has been a giant step forward. However, there is a need to optimise usage of these vaccines and to develop additional products with greater efficacy and additional characteristics, such as the ability to block malaria transmission.

Four outstanding researchers – two from Africa and two from Europe, two women and two men – have been awarded EDCTP Scientific Leadership Prizes

EDCTP Scientific Leadership Prizes recognise the outstanding research of scientists in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe on poverty-related diseases and their contributions to capacity-building.

At a lively debate, four impassioned and knowledgeable panellists debated the motion “African countries should urgently invest in artificial intelligence health tools and systems, along with further investment in digitalisation”.

It seems as if AI is taking over the world. Countries are investing billions of dollars in AI development and seemingly everyone is now using ChatGPT or similar tools. Should African countries be jumping on the AI bandwagon or is it better to wait and see where the technology is heading?

Supporting emerging leaders, exploiting digital technologies, and crowdsourcing ideas are just some of the novel approaches being taken to promote capacity building and networking in Africa.

Linking together people and sites can be a fruitful way of sharing expertise, experience and knowledge, contributing to capacity building. A parallel session, chaired by Lara Pandya (Global Health EDCTP3) and Dr Tony Mann (consultant), showcased a range of notable networking and collaborative projects that have found imaginative new ways to build capacity and progress health research in Africa.

EDCTP has contributed to a key WHO project aiming to enhance global clinical trial capabilities – with new guidance capturing many of the principles embedded in EDCTP’s own work.

A lunchtime session on Tuesday focused on a major global project to strengthen clinical trial ecosystems across the world. As reviewed by session chair Dr Michael Makanga (Executive Director of Global Health EDCTP3), in 2022 the World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA75.8 focusing on the strengthening of global clinical trial capacity. An extensive consultation process led to the development of guidance on best practice, which was published in September 2024.

A multitude of technologies are being applied to address the scourge of diarrhoeal disease in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite some progress, diarrhoeal diseases remain among the biggest killers of young children in Africa. In addition, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is making it more difficult to treat these and other infections. A parallel session on Tuesday, chaired by Dr Juliet Nabyonga-Orem (WHO Namibia) and Dr Jan Paehler (European Commission), featured a range of projects addressing the challenges of diarrhoeal disease and AMR in Africa.

A panel of distinguished researchers from across Africa offered sound advice to young scientists – and to African political leaders.

Tuesday’s morning plenary session convened a distinguished panel of senior researchers – “retired but not tired”, as one panellist put it – to offer advice to researchers at the start of their careers. Dr Zoë Mullan, Editor of the Lancet Global Health, posed the questions and attempted to keep order.

The EDCTP Outstanding Female Scientist Prize winner

The Outstanding Female Scientist Prize, awarded every two years, recognises female scientists who have made a significant scientific contribution and built measurable impactful research capacity. Winners receive a trophy and €20,000 to advance their research.

A bibliometric analysis of EDCTP2-funded outputs has shed light on issues such as patterns of collaboration, representation of authors from Africa on papers, and impacts on policy.

Scientific publications are the principal output of research projects. The EDCTP2 programme recently commissioned a bibliometric analysis of its outputs to explore the extent to which it is achieving its aims.

A lunchtime session discussed some of the key factors behind the successful push to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and how this momentum can be maintained.

NTDs affect more than a billion people worldwide. Despite having less than 20% of the world’s population, Africa accounts for around 40% of the NTD disease burden.

Radical shifts in global health research are needed if equity and justice are to be realised, argued Dr Catherine Kyobutungi in her keynote lecture to the EDCTP Forum.

Following an introduction by Dr Moses Alobo, Head of Programmes at the Science for Africa Foundation, Kenya, Dr Kyobutungi (Executive Director of the African Population and Health Centre, Kenya) picked up on the themes of equity, fairness and justice. These are as important in health research as they are in every other facet of life.

A session on mpox heard how genomic technologies are shedding light on the spread of mpox in Central Africa, and how a new trial may enable pregnant women to gain access to an mpox vaccine.

WHO declared the African mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in August 2024. Two strains of mpox have been identified – known as clades I and II. Historically, clade I cases have been more severe than clade II infections. Various animal reservoirs are a source of zoonotic infections but person-to-person transmission also occurs.

There are many different types of partnership, but a panel discussion highlighted how trust, a commitment to common goals and valuing all partners’ contributions can enhance the likelihood of success.

In his keynote address, Dr Raphael Chanda highlighted the current and anticipated impacts of the ‘silent epidemic’ of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Introduced by Dr Christina Obiero, KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya, Dr Chanda, Acting Director of ReAct Africa, Zambia, provided an overview of the drivers and impacts of AMR, and efforts being made to address it globally and in Africa.