Fifth EDCTP Forum – Blog

Investing in human capital to build healthy nations

Posted by Ilona van den Brink on 19 October 2009 at 11:13

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Education and building a critical pool of skilled manpower is without a doubt an invaluable cog in the wheel that drives socio-economic development and ascertains the creation and sustenance of a healthy nation. During the opening ceremony on Monday, Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania, His Excellency Staffan Herrström addressed the impact of training and education on health improvements in developing countries.

He said that if the growth recently experienced by many countries affected by poverty-related diseases is to evolve into a spiral that stimulates even higher rates of growth, low income countries must increase tier investments in human capacity over a long period. “In a globalised world they will have to fight a war for talent that is currently unfolding with fierce competition for skilled people, leading researchers and entrepreneurs,” he told the meeting.

“For several decades, tertiary education was neglected as a means to improve economic growth and mitigate poverty. It is fair to say that higher education was left to find its own ways of surviving and adjusting to different kinds of pressures with little or no strategic guidance,” he told the audience at the Forum.

Ambassador Herrström observed that higher education can produce both private and public benefits, including better employment prospects, higher salaries, better health and improved quality of life.

Governments, he said, need to invest in human capital to guarantee that everyone can participate in the economy, increase their productivity and enhance their competitiveness.

Putting premium on research, the ambassador said today’s research is tomorrow’s welfare and countries need to establish specific budget lines for research, but funders must also keep their word and ensure that the promised 5 percent of health aid is committed to research.

Despite countries committing themselves to allocating 2 percent of their national health budgets to research during the Bamako Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health, progress is slow but still key for a paradigm shift.

African leadership in training and education

In its efforts to improve health standards in Africa, EDCTP has been carrying out capacity building at different levels to enhance knowledge and skills of those involved in clinical trials.

“The training that is supported is at different levels: Senior Fellowships for mid career to senior researchers with at least three years postdoctoral experience, Career Development Fellowship for those with less than three years postdoctoral experience, PhDs and Masters degrees, and short course thematic training on crucial areas such as Good Clinical Practice or project and finance management,” said Dr Thomas Nyirenda, EDCTP’s South-South Networking and Capacity Development Manager.

For senior scientist, he said, EDCTP has two rounds of Six Fellowship grants annually; two in malaria, two in tuberculosis, and a similar number in HIV/AIDS. In 2009 this model has also been extended to link Senior Fellowships with the EDCTP supported regional Networks of Excellence, increasing the number of funded Fellowship grants annually. “The aim of this grant scheme is to give scientists in mid-career a chance to build and lead research groups at sub-Saharan African institutions that will be internationally competitive and capable of winning grants from local and international funding bodies” said Nyirenda.

An example of Masters training in clinical trials was the Masters of Clinical Trials programme designed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to address missing links like study design. “We realised there was a gap on how to design studies, set up and manage grants,” he said. The school offers a long-distance course and EDCTP and has been giving money for seven students annually since 2007.

In EDCTP’s grants for conducting clinical trials on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and for ethics review capacity building, training is part and parcel of the package.

Although this will have an impact, Dr Nyirenda said it is not enough as Africa still lacks a critical mass of scientist that could investigate and provide evidence-based solutions to the myriad problems afflicting the continent and lift it out of the backwaters of underdevelopment, disease, poverty and ignorance. “African leadership has to be in the frontline to manage training and provide money. They have to set their priorities right,” he said.

The Arusha meeting, he explained, was showcasing what has already been done through partnership and how more could be done in building on what has been achieved.