Boost for African research
20 April 2009
Health research in Africa has received an important boost in the form of support for two funding bodies: the Consortium for National Health Research in Kenya will implement grant-giving, while in Malawi, activities will be overseen by the National Research Council of Malawi. The two have been established by the Health Research Capacity Strengthening initiative and are being supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and us.
"Countries need to be able to develop and implement their own research strategies, meeting their own priorities," said Dr Jimmy Whitworth, Head of International Activities at the Trust. "Through this initiative, we aim to build the capacity of these African countries to make their own grants according to their own needs."
The Kenyan and Malawian bodies will receive £10 million each over five years to make awards according to their national research and training priorities. Their aim is to strengthen the capacity of key academic research and health policy-making institutions to generate new scientific knowledge, and improve its use in evidence based decision making, policy formulation and implementation.
Image: Children at the KEMRI–Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Credit: Caroline Penn