The NIH Common Fund’s Medical Education Partnership Initiative’s (MEPI) goals are to improve healthcare in Africa by strengthening in-country medical education systems; and building clinical and research capacity in Africa. In a recent article, authors described how MEPI’s key achievements helped launch the African Forum Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth). This organization aims to improve health professionals’ education and research capacity in Africa, which will improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities among African countries. MEPI has inspired the development of AFREhealth by increasing the capacity of better trained doctors, creating an in-country shared research resources and experiences, and promoting retention of medical students and faculty at African institutions. Also, MEPI established research support centers that facilitated training in grant writing, scientific writing, and research administration; which help to build a sustainable research environment. These initiatives give organizations such as AFREhealth an opportunity to leverage MEPI’s efforts by expanding research collaborations and joint learning in African countries. AFREhealth will contribute to increasing the numbers and quality of health care professionals as they work to address Africa’s key health priorities including Tuberculosis, HIV, and Malaria.

Reference:

Medical Education Partnership Initiative gives birth to AFREhealth (link is external). The Lancet Global Health. Volume 5, No. 10, e965–e966, October 2017. 

The Implementation Science Network (ISN) recently funded three proposals supporting research, evaluation and Implementation Science approaches for adoption and sustained use of clean cooking technologies in Low and Middle Income Countries. More information on the ISN and the funded proposals.

Awards from the first funding opportunity for the HAPIN initiative, the Household Air Pollution (HAP) Health Outcomes Trial, will be announced in September – October 2016. The HAP Health Outcomes Trial sought applications from institutions/organizations to conduct a clinical trial across three or more Low and Middle Income Country settings to test improved stove and fuel interventions on health outcomes in exposed populations and to establish a biomarker center for the development and validation of clinical, physiological, chemical, biochemical and/or microbiological markers of exposure and pathophysiological responses to household air pollution.