MARCAD Plus is among the partners of the XIX Medical Days of UCAD

MARCAD Plus participated in the XIX Medical Days of the Faculty of Medicine of the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD). The launching Ceremony held on April 26th, was chaired by the General Director of Higher Education of Senegal, Amadou Abdoul Sow, in the presence of the Director of Public Health Institutions of the country. The event took place from 26th to 29th April 2023 at Dakar University.

The medical days are one of the major events for the UCAD’s scientific community. The meeting brought together university authorities, policymakers, illustrious scientists and students.

MARCAD Plus took the opportunity of the event, which is a framework for exchange, capacity building, popularization of research and questioning the future of health science, to better engage the scientific community, policymakers and the public.

See below the full article about MARCAD Plus (translated from French) published in the summary book of the XIXth Medical Days.

MARCAD Plus and DELTAS Africa at the Faculty of Medicine of UCAD: Initiatives to develop excellence in health research in Africa.

MARCAD Plus (Malaria and NTDs Research Capacity Development) is a research and training programme on malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (Schistosomiasis and Geohelminthiasis). The MARCAD Plus secretariat is housed in the Faculty of Medicine of the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar.

MARCAD Plus is a consortium that brings together universities and research institutions from 7 West and Central African countries: Ucad which leads the consortium, the Malaria Research Training Centre of the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Mali, the National Institute of Public Health of Guinea Bissau, the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences of the University of Sierra Leone, the University of Health and Allied Sciences of Ghana, the Medical Research Council of The Gambia, and the Biotechnology Center of the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon; The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom, as well as collaborators in Canada, Europe and the United States of America, support the programme.

MARCAD Plus is one of the 14 consortia selected by the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training, and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa), a programme with the vision of promoting Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa.

Building the capacity of young scientists to make them future leaders in scientific research in Africa, improving the research environment and a public commitment to science are essential components of this research ecosystem that promotes DELTAS Africa II.

The research areas in this programme include communicable diseases, emerging diseases, chronic diseases, animal health, mental health, climate and health, and biostatistics. The research themes and questions are studied from a Global Health perspective of sustainable development considering social, economic and environmental determinants. DELTAS II is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the British cooperation FCDO; it is managed by the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA).

After five years of the first phase of the MARCAD programme focused on malaria, the new MARCAD Plus programme has integrated two Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Schistosomiasis and Geohelminthiasis. Malaria and NTDs coexist in most African regions and are responsible for high morbidity and mortality despite the successes noted in the fight against them in recent years.

Their elimination faces challenges such as pathogen and vector resistance, climate change, uncontrolled urbanization, demographic and land pressure, and the occurrence of pandemics. In MARCAD Plus, new approaches are explored to accentuate the decrease of the transmission of these parasitic diseases or even their interruption according to the endemicity levels.

The interactions between malaria and NTDs are studied and integrated strategies to combat them. In this programme, young scientists at the Master, PhD and Post Doc levels, as well as early career researchers, are recruited and integrated into the research teams of the different institutions of the consortium; the efficient platforms of the laboratories and the various study sites are made available to them; budget lines are made available for their training and research activities; MARCAD Plus fellows benefit from supervision and receive the support of mentors who help them in their career plan.

The Nairobi launch of DELTAS Africa II, attended by representatives of MARCAD Plus, regional and international research organizations, development partners, and the private sector, was a good opportunity to show the value of investing in science and training in the resolution of health problems on the African continent. The Director of MARCAD Plus, Professor Oumar Gaye, took advantage of the launch of the second phase of DELTAS Africa to advocate for African donors and policymakers for more support for research and training; He also emphasized the importance of scientific collaboration and the urgency of breaking down language barriers.