The seven Fellows were selected from 111 applications received from candidates currently working as public health practitioners in one of the six ENTRANT partner countries (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia). Applications were screened and scored independently by a panel of three reviewers, and candidates were then interviewed by the ENTRANT principal investigator and two other members from the steering committee before final selection.

The seven Fellows, who started their training in September 2022, join the eight Fellows who were selected in 2021 and who are currently completing their MSc studies at LSHTM before going on to further training as part of the ENTRANT scheme. The cohort of 15 Fellows will be in regular communication throughout the ENTRANT programme to support each other and share their experiences. Through the ENTRANT programme they seek to establish a critical mass of infectious disease epidemiologists to work with National Public Health Institutes and Ministries of Health and their academic and research partners, to prevent and respond to emerging outbreaks and public health emergencies.

The Fellows

Boosting capacity in epidemiology and biostatistics

For decades, Africa has faced challenges in responding to public health emergencies. Epidemiological data is often unavailable or severely limited and there is a shortage of skilled personnel and systems to collect and analyse available data and efficiently translate them into policy and practice. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the severe shortages in the public health workforce, infrastructure and inadequate capacity for public health research and emergency response across Africa.

To address this capacity gap, EDCTP and Africa CDC partnered in a €7.5 million initiative to support institutions in Africa and Europe to train a cadre of public health workforce that will boost epidemiological and biostatistical capacity on the African continent through Master’s degree programmes in epidemiology and biostatistics.

Following a competitive call for proposals, 10 consortia, comprising 42 African and 9 European institutions, were supported. All consortia have completed recruitment. A special launch event for all consortia and their fellows is expected to take place at the end of 2022.

Africa CDC

Africa CDC is a specialised technical institution of the African Union that strengthens the capacity and capability of Africa’s public health institutions as well as partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks, based on data-driven interventions and programmes. For more information, visit the Africa CDC website: www.africacdc.org.

EDCTP

The mission of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is to reduce the social and economic burden of poverty-related diseases in developing countries, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, by accelerating the clinical development of effective, safe, accessible, suitable, and affordable medical interventions for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected infectious diseases. EDCTP is supported by the European Union under Horizon 2020, its Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. For this call, funding received from the European Union and United Kingdom Official Development Assistance from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is gratefully acknowledged. For more information, visit the EDCTP website edctp.lndo.site.