Connected universities will be able to undertake ‘more sustained’ vaccine work
A network of Africa’s top research universities will establish research hubs focused on vaccine development.
The African Research Universities Alliance announced on 29 October that it will establish three hubs, in West, East, and Southern Africa. ARUA represents 15 research-intensive universities in nine African nations.
Five to six universities will be involved in each hub. ARUA says that this will allow for vaccine research on a “more sustained basis and within a permanent institutional framework”.
Ghana, South Africa and Uganda will host the hubs, at the University of Ghana, the University of Cape Town, and Makerere University, respectively. They will in turn collaborate with other ARUA members in their region.
A US$1 million grant from the Africa regional office of Open Society Foundations, a philanthropic organisation founded by United States billionaire George Soros, has been secured to set up the hubs at Makerere and UG as the first steps of the network.