Research Leaders:Meeting the challenge

Mark Walport

19 November 2008

Wealth matters

Malaria deaths

Wealth matters

All cardiovascular disease deaths

• people & ideas

• teams

• major programmes

• networks

Research for health

A focus on people

• establishment of one of the largest prospective cohorts of SCD patients in East Africa (1200 patients)

• infrastructure development for diagnostics and training

• determination of the causes of morbidity and mortality amongst SCD patients

• development of locally relevant policies for management of malaria, bacterial infections and stroke in the context of SCD

Julie Makani, Research Training Fellowship

University of Tanzania

Training and capacity building

Sickle cell disease

+ Highly subsidised clinics social marketing

Noor et al., 2007. PLoS Medicine, 4(8): e255

New solutions neededResearch into practice: Insecticide treated bed nets for Malaria

With thanks to Robert Snow

• researchers in 21 countries

• whole genome association study of severe malaria

• multicentre study of immune gene polymorphisms that determine antibody production to malaria antigens

• malaria candidate gene diversity project

• identify novel malaria resistance loci by genetic linkage analysis

Networks

• Malaria Atlas Project (MAP)

• funded for five years by the Wellcome Trust and is a joint project between the Centre for Geographic Medicine, Kenya and the University of Oxford with collaborating nodes in America and Asia Pacific region

• a detailed model of the spatial limits of Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria at a global scale

Robert Snow

University of Oxford

New tools

Mapping disease

• Partnership between UK Department for International Development and Wellcome Trust

• Plus International Development Research Centre, Canada: track record strengthening health systems in Africa and a financial contribution to the project

• Kenya and Malawi (£10 million each country)

• National Task Forces developed programmes of work over a 6-month period

• Mechanism: foster and nurture National research grant-giving bodies, the Consortium for National Health Research, Kenya and the National Research Council of Malawi

• Implementation from February 2008

Capacity building: National Networks

Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative

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Institutional capacity building

Distribution of applicants invited for full application involving:

• institutions in 20 African countries

• collaborations with 27 non-African institutions

Awards to be made in December 2008

Global collaboration

Pandemic influenza• consortium of organisations, including:

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation• Institut Pasteur• National Institutes of Health• WHO• Chinese Center for Disease Control & Prevention • Wellcome Trust

• facilitate and coordinate the development of a research agenda related to human influenza:

• What is being done?• What needs to be done? • Three areas to be mapped – vaccines, drug

therapies, epidemiology/surveillance

• developing, maintaining and disseminating a central inventory of funded research activities on influenza

Health and wealth

UK France