Uganda has been selected among the countries to benefit from a new research collaboration programme between Cambridge University and African education institutions to promote health research on the African continent.
Professor Nelson Sewankambo
The new programme, which involves researchers from both Cambridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is aimed at building the skills and knowledge of African academics in seven institutions in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda.
According to a news statement from the project, the program will help generate a “critical mass” of future research leaders in the field of health, and ultimately contribute to better health in Africa by helping the continent appropriately respond to the huge disease burden.
The statement says more than 80 Cambridge researchers have signed up to take their expertise to Africa to strengthen research on the continent in this collaborative program to improve Africa’s research capacity in the health field.
By matching the scientific interests of African scientists to relevant experts at Cambridge and the LSHTM, the “Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa” (THRiVE) programme will initially support five postdoctoral fellows and 14 PhD students.
“Even in the best African universities, shortages of PhD-level staff and internationally competitive research groups denies young research scientists sufficient mentorship and advanced training, causing a serious block to African scientific progress,” says Professor David Dunne, director of the THRiVE programme in Cambridge.
The programme has been funded with £5.2 million from the Wellcome Trust and is directed by Professor Nelson Sewankambo at Uganda’s Makerere University. The award winning Professor Sewankambo is the Principal of Makerere’s College of health Sciences.