West African Network for TB AIDS and Malaria (WANETAM II)

The West Africa network of excellence for clinical trials in TB, AIDS, and Malaria (WANETAM) is a renewed consortium that builds on the previous achievements in capacity building for clinical studies and interventions. The new network will structure training and collaboration through thematic nodes of excellence in TB, HIV/AIDS, and Malaria and a new capacity strengthening in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) and Ebola. The strategy of training and collaboration will focus on project-based training to build research leadership; hands-on clinical studies; resource and platform infrastructure development for data sharing and collaborative research; surveillance to build the evidence-base needed for designing clinical trials; diagnostics to support interventions; and building quality assurance management to support the steps for laboratory accreditation. There will be cross-cutting training to enhance professional development and scientific competency in clinical trials and research support.
The work packages to support training activities, acquire capacity, and foster stronger collaboration fall under 3 main areas, namely: 1. Surveillance, e.g. capacity for community-based interventions in interrupting malaria transmission; surveillance and control of emerging Mycobacterium tuberculosis-drug resistance; recognition and surveillance of childhood TB; molecular epidemiological survey of helminths prevalence and antihelminthic resistance; 2. Diagnostics, e.g. evaluating novel diagnostic tools for TB; evaluating insecticides and insecticide resistance, and novel molecular diagnostics of malaria infections; implementing in-house HIV viral load assay and rolling-out novel molecular antihelmintic diagnostic tools; and 3. Clinical trial resources, e.g. HIV cohort database for sharing and informing clinical trial plans; capacity to determine safety and efficacy of new treatments/vaccines. The cross-cutting training includes Post-doctoral and Senior Clinical skills training and mentorship (work visit attachment); MSc Online courses (Data management; clinical trial; Biostatistics; and clinical and molecular epidemiology); Professional Development Courses (Clinical Trial Quality Assurance and Clinical Trial Monitoring; Epidemiological evaluation of vaccines: efficacy, safety and policy; and Project Management); and Professional development internship (Financial and Grant support management).
The theme leaders will be assisted by an assistant coordinator from the stronger institutions (MRC Unit in the Gambia, RARS in Senegal and MRTC, Mali) that provide project platforms and/or man-hour coordination. A second assistant coordinator from other institutions will facilitate the networking. The networking program will be incorporated into the project management and governance to strengthen the South-South, North-South and Government-Policy Maker interactions; and maximise the impact of clinical research. An Advisory Board will be constituted to guide the implementation of the program.

EDCTP GrantsProject details

Diagnostics
Leadership & Governance
Surveillance

Oct 2017 — Jun 2021

$3.54M

Benin
Burkina Faso
France
Germany
Ghana
Guinea
Mali
Nigeria
Portugal
Senegal
Sierra Leone
The Gambia
Togo
United Kingdom

West African Network for TB, AIDS and Malaria (WANETAM I)