The West African Network for AIDS, TB and Malaria (WANETAM), an EDCTP2-funded Regional Network of Excellence, has been conducting multiple activities to build research skills across West Africa.

A key aim of the network is to leverage sites of research excellence, such as MRC-G, to build capacity at weaker sites in West Africa. One approach has been for MRC-G to host researchers and support staff, so that they can gain experience of working at a centre of excellence. Recent examples have included:

• On-the-job training for two clinical trialists from Ghana and Mali at MRC-G, including the opportunity to contribute to a major international study of yellow fever vaccination taking place in The Gambia.

• A placement for postdoctoral researcher Dr Baltazar C. from Guinea-Bissau, who completed his PhD in Portugal and undertook a three-month placement in The Gambia, learning new skills and developing contacts that will be valuable during his EDCTP Career Development Fellowship.

The network has also begun to host intensive training courses previously held at the London School of Hygiene and Medicine in the UK.

• In February 2025, WANETAM supported 11 participants to attend the Essentials of Clinical Trials course at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC-G).

• In April 2025, WANETAM in collaboration with the West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA) and MRC-G, co-organised a training course on Epidemiology and Biostatistics in Dakar, Senegal, which brought together 31 early- and mid-career researchers from nine countries in West Africa, with GSK funding.

An extensive programme of training activities have been organised in 2024 and 2025. These include:

• Through WANETAM’s malaria workstream, training in grant writing and clinical trials management.

• Training for staff from 10 countries of laboratory quality accreditation.

• Training on data management and sharing, for participants from eight countries.

Established in 2009, WANETAM now encompasses 25 sites in 12 West African countries, plus five institutions in four European countries. Its activities focus on TB, malaria, HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Activities in these areas, and in a cross-cutting capacity-building workstream, has a strong emphasis on strengthening links between sites to facilitate multisite clinical studies and on developing early-career researchers.