Over the past two decades, EDCTP has significantly contributed to strengthening scientific health research capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa. This progress spans both human capital development and robust research infrastructure.

The Central African Network on TB, HIV and Malaria (CANTAM) network leads the WISE programme that is supporting 8 PhD female candidates in health sciences with a strong focus on immunology to fill in the regional gap in this discipline. WISE is strengthening the mentorship programme for female scientists in Central Africa and promoting the contribution of women in health science in all CANTAM countries in collaboration with national decision-makers. This ambitious programme is being conducted using complementary competencies of regional and international partners from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. At the end of the four years, CANTAM expects to have new research groups led by the PhD fellows established in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon.

Building on the success of the PSIA female PhD funding scheme and the positive feedback from Regional Networks of Excellence highlighting both the potential and willingness to accommodate more students, an additional €500,000 per network has been awarded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in 2024. This funding will enable each network to support up to five additional PhD students, significantly increasing the reach and impact of the initiative.

The programmes will also provide opportunities for Master’s graduates who have successfully completed training under the EDCTP-funded 2020 call, Capacity Development for Disease Outbreak and Epidemic Response in Sub-Saharan Africa, conducted in collaboration with Africa CDC. Each of the 10 consortia funded through this call is training 10-15 Master’s students, creating a robust pool of candidates for PhD programmes.

By connecting these 10 consortia, their trainees, and the Regional Networks, this initiative aims to strengthen Africa’s capacity for a coordinated epidemic response. This strategic networking leverages previous DHSC investments, ensuring a sustainable and amplified impact on health research and outbreak preparedness across the continent.

The TALENT programme of the West African Network for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria (WANETAM) network aims to develop world-class, technically competent, and multi-disciplinary female scientists, equipped to advance clinical and laboratory research on endemic and emerging infectious diseases. The candidates work on infectious diseases with an opportunity to acquire multi-disciplinary and soft skills, including in bioinformatics, biostatistics, health systems research, epidemic preparedness, clinical trials, grant and manuscript writing and mentorship, etc. At the end of their academic training, the TALENT PhD fellows will be supported in transitioning into the WANETAM Post-Doctoral Stream through researcher leadership development efforts. The programme is managed by the MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG at LSHTM) and coordinated by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), University of Ghana.

The TAGENDI programme, nested within the Trials of Excellence in Southern Africa (TESA) network, supports 7 female PhD candidates using the established TESA network, including the University of Cape Town (South Africa), the University of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), Stellenbosch University (South Africa), University of Barcelona and ISGLOBAL (Spain), University of Namibia (Namibia) University of Botswana (Botswana), and University of Zambia (Zambia).

The academic training focuses on under-served health research disciplines including epidemic preparedness, biostatistics, computational research, bioinformatics, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and research on COVID-19.

The East African Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR) network launched the CAFÉ-SEA programme, a multidisciplinary PhD training programme, to equip up to seven female scientists from under-represented countries in the Eastern Africa region with skills and knowledge in clinical research. The programme is being delivered by five EACCR partners, including Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Uganda, National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) in Tanzania, Kenya Medical Research Institute and African Research Collaboration for Health in Kenya and University of Rwanda in Rwanda. The PhD programme has five tracks: Implementation Science; Non-Communicable diseases; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Research and Development; and Health Economics.

In 2019, EDCTP and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) jointly organised a workshop to discuss inequities in two specific aspects of equity in research – gender and regional. The workshop identified key obstacles to more equitable funding, and strategies to overcome them are detailed in a report from the meeting.

Building on insights from this workshop, EDCTP and the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) collaborated on a Participating State Initiated Action (PSIA) that leveraged the established research platforms of EDCTP Regional Networks of Excellence as training hubs for early-career women researchers. This targeted approach aims to address gender disparities by creating more opportunities for women in health research, ultimately fostering a more inclusive and equitable research landscape across sub-Saharan Africa.