Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation), a pan African, non-profit, and public charity organisation that supports, strengthens, and promotes science and innovation in Africa, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), a leader in tropical medicine and global health, have today announced that they have teamed up to advance global health research to improve health outcomes in Africa.

The SFA Foundation and LSTM are partnering to leverage joint global health research leadership, strengthen clinical trials capacity to promote biologics R&D and access to infrastructure, and develop pandemic preparedness surveillance methodologies across the African continent.

Together, the SFA Foundation and LSTM will utilise their complementary strengths in the field of global health research to enable delivery and access to impactful innovations, thereby improving health outcomes across the continent.

Recent developments in clinical trials and pandemic preparedness on the African continent highlight the urgency of strengthening these capacities. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) have deepened their partnership to enhance epidemic and pandemic prevention, emphasizing the need for local vaccine manufacturing and clinical trial readiness to respond effectively to emerging infectious diseases. Both ultimately aim to build resilient health systems capable of managing recurrent outbreaks, ultimately elevating Africa's readiness against future health crises.

Central to their partnership is the enhancement of clinical trial capacity, focusing on frameworks for assessing and developing clinical capacity within African trial sites. Together, SFA and LSTM can draw on the expertise of LSTM’s Global Health Trials Unit (GHTU) to enhance capacity in designing, implementing, and publishing high quality clinical trial research. This initiative also includes workforce development programmes to broaden the pool of clinical trial practitioners and curriculum development to upskill and address infrastructure gaps in early-phase clinical trials.

Additionally, LSTM and the SFA Foundation will collaborate on pandemic preparedness surveillance, developing methodologies and tools for priority diseases with inadequate monitoring across the continent. Their joint efforts will endeavour to support pandemic response strategies, including the establishment of early response sites and a comprehensive preparedness plan in collaboration with pan-African stakeholders.

The partnership further entails specific programme activities to include expanded efforts within existing areas of work, including the Sub-Saharan African Consortium for the Advancement of Innovative Research and Care in Sepsis (STAIRS), biologics capacity strengthening, and the Clinical Trials Community Africa Network (CTCAN). LSTM and SFA are committed to sharing resources, facilitating staff exchanges, and collaborating on funded research programs to maximize their impact on healthcare across African nations.

Dr Evelyn Gitau, Chief Scientific Officer at the SFA Foundation, commented: “Our collaboration with LSTM is vital for transforming the landscape of global health in Africa. Together, we can foster a robust clinical trial ecosystem that not only accelerates the development of new treatments but also ensures that African nations are equipped to respond swiftly to future health emergencies. This partnership is not just about research; it’s about saving lives and enhancing health security across the continent.”

Dr Becky Jones-Phillips, Head of Enterprise and Innovation at LSTM, said: “This partnership is a significant step towards addressing the critical gaps in clinical trial capacity and pandemic preparedness across Africa. By leveraging our combined expertise, we can create sustainable frameworks for health innovation that empowers local researchers and healthcare systems.”

Further Information

CTCAN

The Clinical Trials Community Africa Network (CTCAN) seeks to enable an environment that brings more clinical trials to the continent, including large scale clinical trials and disease outbreak response activities. The network will foster coordination in clinical research by providing a platform for all African stakeholders including, clinical researchers, regulators, industry partners, and other relevant stakeholders to define which diseases are priority for clinical research. The network will also raise awareness on the existing capacity of sites and labs across Africa, contribute to the operationalisation and harmonisation of regulatory processes across the region, and strengthen less experienced sites and labs through a clinical trial preparedness framework, while encouraging inter- and cross-continental knowledge and expertise sharing. CTCAN is an initiative supported by the Global Health EDCTP-3 Joint Undertaking.

STAIRS

With funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Sub-Saharan African Consortium for the Advancement of Innovative Research and Care in Sepsis (STAIRS) aims to save lives from sepsis by addressing vital knowledge gaps in sepsis epidemiology, diagnosis and care quality; strengthening research capacity; and translating emerging evidence to policy across a network of 8 partners in 7 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The consortium comprises academic and non-government organisation partners from Mozambique, Ethiopia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Germany and includes collaborations with institutions like LSTM for specific contributions in the areas of sepsis research, clinical trials capacity building, market access assessments and industry partner engagements.

Media Enquiries:

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine                                                                 

Dominic Smith, Corporate Communications Manager

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/

Science for Africa Foundation

Davies Mbela

[email protected]

Website: https://scienceforafrica.foundation/