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Executive
Director's Note |
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In this issue of EDCTP
newsletter we are proud to welcome the new members of the
EDCTP Partnership Board and of the EDCTP Developing Countries
Coordinating Committee. You will read about the first EDCTP
investigator meeting which will be held in Cape Town, South
Africa on the 24 and 25 July and also about the 2006 EDCTP
annual Forum which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden and
will address the challenges and opportunities of partnership
and leadership.
The collaboration with NEPAD and EDCTP is
now in active phase, and joint actions on advocacy are planned
for 2006. The announcement of the African health ministers to
devote 2% for health research is a very encouraging signal for
ensuring the long-term sustainability of research initiatives
like EDCTP.
Last but not least, EDCTP’s team has grown. We
are pleased to welcome Bart Jordi, PhD as Project Officer. He
brings great skills, experience and enthusiasm to our
team.
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News about the
EDCTP Governance |
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| * The EDCTP
Partnership Board Welcomes Five New Members and Nominates New
Chair and Vice Chairs |
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The Partnership Board
(PB) designs the scientific and strategic framework of the
EDCTP and advises the General Assembly on technical and
scientific matters relating to the EDCTP programme.
The PB
is charged with preparing proposals and recommendations to be
submitted via the Secretariat to the Assembly, specifically
with regard to:
- Strategic needs and priorities for new clinical
interventions, training and capacity building
- Calls for project proposals and other procedures for
implementing plans of action
- The annual action plans, including the calls foreseen
for the year
- Recommendation for the funding of successfully evaluated
proposals.
PB members are selected through
an open competitive call, recommended to the General Assembly
by a nomination committee and are appointed based on of their
scientific expertise.
The PB is composed of 12
independent members. On 13 February 2006, EDCTP welcomed its
new members; Prof. Richard Adegbola (The Gambia, tuberculosis
expert), Prof. Juhani Eskola (Finland, Pharmaceutical industry
experience), Prof. Bruno Kilunga Kubata (Kenya, malaria
expert), Dr Peter Kremsner (Germany, malaria expert) and Dr
Sodiomon Sirima (Burkina Faso, malaria expert). They are
joining Prof. Janet Darbershire (United Kingdom), Prof.
Patrice Debre (France), Dr Michel Klein (Canada), Prof.
Souleymane Mboup (Senegal), Prof. Peter Smith (United Kingdom)
and Prof. Britta Warren (Sweden). One position is still
vacant for a tuberculosis expert.
The
partnership board members have elected their new chair (Prof.
Debre) and vice chairs (Prof. Mboup and Prof. Smith), shown in
the picture above.
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| * The EDCTP
Developing Countries Coordinating Committee Nominates New
Members |
The DCCC is an independent
15-member advisory body comprising prominent African
scientists and health professionals. Its general role is to
ensure the commitment, ownership and leadership of the EDCTP
programme by the participating sub-Saharan Africa countries.
The senior scientific experts and health professionals are
elected based on their experience in HIV/AIDS, malaria or
tuberculosis in areas of capacity building, clinical trials,
public health issues, fundraising and networking. Each member
has a two-year tenure.
On 8 March 2006 the
EDCTP Assembly approved the nomination of Dr Tumani Corrah
(Gambia), Dr Walter Jaoko (Kenya), Dr Mathieu Ndounga (Congo)
and Dr Peter Ndumbe (Cameroon) to join the DCCC. The four
new members will join the continuing members, namely Dr Simon
Agwale (Nigeria), Dr Aissatou Balde-Toure (Senegal), Dr
Aderaye Getachew (Ethiopia), Dr Kobus Herbst (South Africa),
Dr Jean-Paul Kashongwe (DRC) and Dr Lynn Zijenah
(Zimbabwe).
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| * Appointment
of new Project Officer |
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 | EDCTP welcomes Dr Bart Jordi as
the new Project Officer in the Secretariat in The
Hague.
Bart Jordi has ample experience in working with
micro-organisms including ETEC (causing diarrhoea in infants
in underdeveloped countries), Salmonella and corona
viruses (such as SARS). Bart received his PhD from the
University of Utrecht, The Netherlands and has worked for five
years at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, UK.
After this period he worked as a researcher both in academic
settings and in biotech companies.
On accepting the
challenge before him, Bart remarked, ‘I am very happy to
be appointed as a project officer at the EDCTP secretariat in
The Hague. I hope that with my experience as a researcher in
the field of bacterial infectious diseases, I can help EDCTP
to achieve its objectives. I am convinced that Europe’s
contribution towards reducing poverty in developing
countries by improving the health of the populations can best
be done by a joint African and European effort like the one
initiated by EDCTP’.
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| * The EDCTP
Investigator's meeting |
24-25
July 2006, Cape Town, South Africa
EDCTP
will hold an investigators’ meeting at the Medical Research
Council in Cape Town (South Africa) from 24 to 25 July 2006.
The goal of the meeting is to establish a South-South network
of researchers and institutions for coordinating and
synergising activities related to clinical trials on the three
major poverty-related diseases of HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis in Africa through the EDCTP
partnership.
This meeting will bring together 10
African and European researchers that are funded by EDCTP. The
meeting will also involve collaborating investigators from 14
African sites and their associates from 8 institutions from
the north. The EDCTP grantees that are expected to attend the
meeting include A. S. Alabi (Gambia), C.
Chintu (Zambia), U. d'Allesandro (Belgium), A. A.
Djimde (Mali), D. K. Ekouevi (Cote d’Ivoire), S. Gillespie
(UK), W. A. Hanekom (South Africa), M. M. Mukhtar (Sudan), A.
Nzila (Kenya) and P. Van Helden (South Africa). The involved
African sites are in Gambia, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Gabon,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Mali, Cote
d’Ivoire, South Africa, Kenya and Sudan. The collaborating
European Institutions are from Italy, the Netherlands, the UK,
Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and USA. Other participants
expected to attend the meeting include NEPAD regional
representatives, officials of a few selected regulatory
authorities from African countries, EDCTP constituency members
and secretariat staff.
At this meeting
participants will be expected to:
- Share experiences and exchange information on existing
projects
- Facilitate the establishment of South-South links (e.g.
mentorship programmes, nodes of excellence, and sharing of
facilities and expertise)
- Explore common grounds of interest such as possibilities
of joint grant applications
- Define the research agenda and priorities as determined
by the ongoing projects
- Discuss regulatory issues, establishing of clinical
trial registry and the role of African institutions in
clinical trials sponsorship.
For more
information, visit our website.
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| * Third Annual
EDCTP Forum; Partnership and African Leadership: Chalenges and
Opportunities |
8-11 October
2006, Stockholm, Sweden
The theme of the Third
Annual EDCTP Forum is based on the fundamental goal of EDCTP
to create an enabling environment for the European scientists
to join forces through a structured network to work together
in partnership with African scientists to fight HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis as a means of poverty reduction. A
strong African leadership is essential for identifying
research capacity gaps, prioritisation of research problems,
setting up of the required appropriate research agenda,
facilitation of translation of research findings into control
measures and sustainability of the programme well beyond the
current framework. Furthermore, this will create a true sense
of partnership, commitment and ownership, whereby all partners
will offer strong contributions for the mutual interest of the
programme.
The focus of this year's annual
Forum will be on the following three sub-themes:
- Capacity building and networking for conducting clinical
trials
- Regulatory issues and ethics in clinical trials
- Conduct of clinical
trials
Format:
- Plenary sessions with invited speakers and topics on
focus areas
- Short-electronic presentations. As means of sharing
information short presentations in the form of 5-8
comprehensive slide shows on relevant subjects will be
viewed and discussed continuously during breaks
- Round table discussions
Two
hundred participants drawn mainly from EDCTP-supported
projects and constituencies will attend the forum.
For more information please visit our website
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| * EDCTP and
NEPAD agree on closer cooperation for poverty alleviation
through health improvement |
EDCTP and the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
have agreed to work closely together in poverty alleviation
through health improvement. EDCTP whose mission is to
accelerate the development of new clinical interventions to
fight poverty-related diseases will join hands with NEPAD to
conduct joint activities of mutual interest. This agreement
was reached after separate meetings between Dr Odile Leroy
(EDCTP Executive Director), Prof. Charles Mgone (Head, EDCTP
Africa Office) and Prof. Eric Buch (NEPAD Adviser); and
between Dr Pascoal Mocumbi (EDCTP, High Representative), Prof.
Charles Mgone and Prof. Firmino Mucavele (NEPAD, Chief
Executive). This is part of the EDCTP strategy for fostering
synergy with like-minded organisations and for ensuring
sustainability of its programme through promotion of African
ownership and leadership. To facilitate this process, the
EDCTP Developing Countries Coordinating Committee (DCCC)
membership will now include representation from NEPAD
sub-regions. As a start, representatives from the West African
Health Organisation representing West Africa and from
Organisation de Coordination pour la lute contre les Endémies
en Afrique Centrale (OCEAC), representing the Central Africa
have been invited to join DCCC. DCCC comprising prominent
African experts is a key constituent of EDCTP that is
responsible for lending the African voice and perspective to
the programme. In addition, EDCTP and NEPAD have agreed to
carryout joint advocacy activities including publication of
joint communications on HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and
related issues. The two organisations will also endeavour to
work towards close collaborative activities including joint
fundraising and calls for proposals when the need
arises.
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| * African
Ministers agree on 2% for Research |
Ministers meeting,
15 March 2006
Editorial comment from
EDCTP Secretariat: At a three-day meeting of
Ministers of Health that was attended by 39 delegates from 11
African countries in Abuja, Nigeria in March, the ministers
agreed to spend 2% of their budgets on health research. The
EDCTP secretariat congratulates the Health Ministers from
Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique,
Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan for agreeing on this
positive step in health research. EDCTP, established in 2003
and founded on article 169 of the statutes of the European
Union states that calls for improved co-ordination and joint
health research activities among European states in
collaboration with sub-Sahara African countries to accelerate
the production of new clinical interventions for HIV/AIDS, TB
and malaria through funding clinical trials, concurrent
capacity building and facilitating networking. Currently the
EDCTP programme gets financial support from the European
Commission and European National Programmes. More or increased
financial contribution from African states is not just a
positive step but it is a move that goes a long way in
ensuring sustainability of the programmes that will be
initiated by EDCTP in the fight against the three poverty
related diseases.
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EDCTP calls for
independent experts to assist EDCTP in the implementation of
the objectives set out in the Joint
Programme
EDCTP is continuing to invite
applications from individuals wishing to provide expert
assistance for the following tasks:
- Assistance in the Scientific Review Committee (SRC) for
the evaluation of the applications for grants received by
the organisation in areas of HIV or TB or malaria clinical
trials, capacity building and networking
- Assistance in the pre-evaluation of applications in the
three disease areas
- Any other specific scientific expertise as might be
required
Candidates are required to
have experience in:
- Research in the relevant scientific fields
- Evaluation of projects
- Use of the results of research and technological
development projects
- Technology transfer and innovation
- International collaboration
- Knowledge on the conduct of clinical trials
(preferable)
The selected participants will be
added to a database of EDCTP experts. Although individuals
will be assigned tasks according to expertise, some degree of
flexibility should be expected to avoid conflicting schedules.
For this reason, scientists interested in the programme should
indicate their field of expertise and time availability. SRC
members will be appointed for a three-year period. Ideally
each sitting of SRC shall consist of seven experts including a
chair, four specialists and two generalists. Subject to the
timelines set out in the grant procedure the EDCTP secretariat
will convene an SRC meeting in the EDCTP office in The Hague
where the reviews of applications will be discussed. All
logistics for the organisation of the SRC meetings will be
facilitated by the EDCTP secretariat. Where pre-evaluation of
proposals is required experts will be requested to perform
their assignment electronically or telephonically from their
own location.
EDCTP conforms to the
legislation of The Netherlands concerning the Personal Data
Protection Act.
For details of application procedures
please visit the EDCTP website.
Interested
parties should send their application electronically (via
email) to: proposals@edctp.org.
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The EDCTP
Secretariat team
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EDCTP
teambuilding
(2006 retreat)
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