WANETAM: West African Network for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria
African members: Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
European members: France, Germany, Portugal, UK
Coordinator: Professor Souleymane Mboup, Reseau Africain de Recherche sur le SIDA, Senegal
Project website
EDCTP case study
WANETAM’s core focus has been on capacity building, organising long-term and short-term training, as well as strengthening of laboratory capacities; stronger institutes in the network developed clinical trial units and secured international accreditation. Initial funding also provided an opportunity to establish surveillance activities to provide baseline data for future studies. Thematic nodes of excellence were established for each area, complemented by a cross-cutting structured training and collaboration programme. A notable achievement has been to establish a functioning network across English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries.
WANETAM I provided a platform for two major international clinical trials in HIV. Progress in WANETAM II has included set up of a controlled human infection model in The Gambia, the first of its kind of West Africa. In addition, the TB in children team set up a sub-network, the West African Paediatric TB Network (WApTBNet).
In WANETAM III, a wide variety of research projects will provide a platform for embedding training of early-career researchers. The network will also aim to continue building its clinical research and laboratory capacity, as well as its data-sharing infrastructure.