Meetings: February-April 2015

ECSA-HC and WAHO regional health research programmes

EDCTP participated in two African sub-regional strategic policy meetings with the objective of strengthening regional cooperation: the 60th East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) health ministers conference held in Munyonyo, Uganda, 16-18 February; and the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) meeting on the development of a strategic plan for regional health research for West Africa (2016-2020) held in Côte d’Ivoire from 23-27 February. Both meetings had a situational analysis of the research on health in the sub-regions and discussions on their future strategic plans. Dr Michael Makanga, Director for South-South Cooperation represented EDCTP at both meetings.

AACHRD 30-31 March 2015

The African Advisory Committee on Health Research and Development (AACHRD) met for its 29th session in Harare, Zimbabwe on 30-31 March 2015. The AACHRD advises the Director of WHO Africa Region on the research agenda and the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge. On 31 March, Dr Michael Makanga, EDCTP Director of South-South Cooperation, presented EDCTP2 from an African perspective. The process to improve consultation and feedback between EDCTP and African countries was extensively discussed at this meeting in a session moderated by Prof. Charles Mgone.

EDCTP visit to Republic of Congo

From 22 to 28 February 2015, an EDCTP team comprising Mr Abdoulie Barry (Director of Finance and Administration), Dr Ole Olsen (Director of North-North Cooperation), Dr Thomas Nyirenda (South-South Networking and Capacity Development Manager) and Ms Michelle Nderu (Project Officer), visited EDCTP-funded projects in the Republic of Congo.

This visit was conducted in order to establish personal contact and dialogue with the teams implementing the work in the field by visiting selected research institutions, meeting with principle investigators/project coordinators and key project team members; to assess technical progress made in implementation of the projects’ primary objectives and deliverables including identification of key areas for capacity building and networking; to assess the systems of internal finance control and reporting; to inform managers, researchers and their teams about the goals of EDCTP and ensure their achievement in Congo; to increase the visibility of EDCTP through strategic engagement with policy makers, regulators, key ethics review committee/board members and European Union delegation; to assess the readiness/capabilities of project sites/laboratories to implement new EDCTP projects; and to collect information and identify potential areas of future collaborations in research and capacity strengthening activities within the scope of EDCTP.

The Republic of Congo has seen an increase in the number of EDCTP-funded projects between 2004 and 2013 and attracted more than1.8 million euros research funding. This country visit focused on the Central African Network for TB, AIDS and Malaria (CANTAM). The Minister for Scientific Research and Technological Innovation for Congo, Honourable Mr Bruno Itoua, officially welcomed the EDCTP team to Congo and facilitated meetings with relevant players that included the Ministry of Public Health, the CANTAM Secretariat, Brazzaville TB Clinic, Makelekele Children’s hospital, the National Ethics Committee, National Reference Laboratory, Marien Ngouabi University, the EU Delegation in Brazzaville and the World Health Organisation African Regional Office (WHO-AFRO).

Fourth African Regulatory Conference 2015

The IFPMA African Regulatory Network and the Drug Information Association (DIA) with support from the Gates Foundation and the World Bank organised the 4th African Regulatory Conference in Dakar, Senegal on 27-28 April. The conference discussed the evolving regulatory landscape in Africa and ways to further harmonisation. Dr Thomas Nyirenda, South-South Networking and Capacity Development Manager, attended and represented EDCTP as speaker in the session on clinical trials.

AU ministerial meeting on health

African Ministers of Health met in Addis Ababa on 16 and 17 April for a meeting on the challenges to inclusive and universal access to health care in relationship with health, population and drug control. The ministerial session was prepared by the first meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Health, Population and Drug Control (STC-HPDC-1) of the African Union (13-15 April). Dr Michael Makanga contributed to the discussions of the committee and held a presentation on ‘Conducting clinical trials as a means of seeking an African solution’ at the ministerial meeting.

Annual TBVI projects meeting

Professor Charles Mgone, EDCTP Executive Director, and Dr Ole Olesen, EDCTP Director of North-North cooperation, attended the Annual Projects Meeting of the Dutch TBVI (Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative) on 11-12 February 2015. On 11 February, Prof. Mgone contributed to the kick-off meeting for TBVAC2020, a consortium of 40 research institutions coordinated by TBVI which aims to advance novel and promising TB vaccine candidates from discovery to preclinical and early clinical development. Dr Olesen, member of the external advisory committee for TBVAC2020, delivered first feedback at the closing session of the meeting on 12 February.

MVVC2 meeting

The annual meeting of the Malaria Vectored Vaccines Consortium (MMVC) working on malaria vaccine project MVVC2 took place in Oxford, United Kingdom on 4-5 March 2015. MVVC2 is a two-year project coordinated by the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) building on the work conducted by MVVC, which established a strong network between four African and several European partners. MVVC2 comprises field trials of a new combination malaria vaccine in West African adults and children funded by EDCTP and third parties. EDCTP was represented by Project Officer Mr Jean Marie Vianney Habarugira who presented the different types of funding schemes in EDCTP2 and took part in the discussion on the continuity and sustainability of the MVVC consortium.

Fourth Global TB Vaccine Forum

The fourth Global TB Vaccine Forum convened in Shanghai, China from 21-24 April 2015. This meeting was organised by TBVI and Aeras together with the Fudan University and the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, under the auspices of the Stop TB Partnership Working Group on new vaccines. EDCTP was represented by Dr Ole Olesen, Director of North-North Cooperation, who presented the EDCTP2 funding opportunities and urged innovative approaches to vaccine development. Ms Daniela Pereira (Communication) provided information on the EDCTP2 programme and funding possibilities from the EDCTP stand.

Gulbenkian Foundation and EDCTP sign agreement

On 9 March 2015, EDCTP Executive Director Prof. Charles Mgone and the Administrator of the Gulbenkian Foundation Mrs. Isabel Mota signed an agreement of collaboration for strengthening health research ethics review capacity in sub-Saharan Africa. The Portuguese Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation will partner with EDCTP on its next ‘Ethics’ call for proposals with a total contribution of up to €100,000 reserved for cofunding participants from Portuguese-speaking sub-Saharan Africa who participate in successful applications. The first ‘Ethics’ call for proposals is expected to be opened in June 2015.

HIV Vaccine Development in Africa

Dr Thomas Nyirenda, EDCTP South-South Networking and Capacity Development Manager, represented EDCTP at the Pan-African meeting on ‘Considerations for a Pan-African HIV Vaccine Development Agenda’ in Kigali, Rwanda from 16-20 March 2015. He participated as moderator for the session on regulatory aspects. The main meeting was organised by the

Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, followed by the ‘Regulatory Capacity Workshop on Vaccine Clinical Trial Review from Ebola to HIV’. The regulatory workshop was jointly organised by the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, the Canadian government and the Alliance for advancing HIV Vaccines.