Quick-turnaround studies will split US$1m over a two-year duration
European funders are launching three research projects to combat the coronavirus pandemic in Africa. The winning projects were announced on 8 February.
The programme is a partnership between the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health based in Switzerland. Projects split US$1 million over two years.
Kwame Shanaube from the University of Zambia will co-lead a project to improve Covid-19 screening and testing in Lesotho and Zambia by using local communities to collect samples.
A consortium including investigators from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Uganda will work on rapid and portable SARS-Cov-2 diagnostics tailored for low- and middle-income countries.
A project involving partners in South Africa and Uganda will research Covid-19 antibodies as potential therapeutics, reinfection, and whether HIV and other factors affect infection rates.
“The protracted spread and evolution of Covid-19 has clearly unmasked the need for increased international collaboration with bi-directional sharing of knowledge and expertise,” said Michael Makanga, EDCTP executive director, in a statement.