Format for a NETWORK programme application – Concept note South (Identification phase)
Call Network University Cooperation (NETWORK) 2015
1.
Description of the project context
Enhancing Infectious Diseases Education and Research In Ethiopia
Infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs contribute to the large proportion of morbidity,
mortality and disability in Ethiopia. This needs an urgent call for increased and sustained efforts to train the
humanpower required to confront this development menace and to promote research towards the development of
new or improved approaches for vaccines, drugs and diagniostics. This seeks establishment of a network University collaboration (NUC) between Jimma University and and other partner institutions (Hawassa University,
Ambo University and Addis Ababa College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture). Jimma University (JU) with
long experience and strong infrastructure leads the network while Hawassa University (HU), Ambo University
(AU) and Addis Ababa University College of Veterinary Medicne and Agriculture (CVMA) will be partner universities. JU will support to build the capacity of the partner institutions through joint Masters and PhD training and
conducting collaborative research focusing on the causes, epidemiology, pathogenesis and control of malaria,
tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs. JU will serve as the hub in the network to share scientific expertise and resources to
partner institutions. The scope of the capacity building provided by JU will also be expanded to include short and
medium term training programs. The NUC initiative achieves excellence through the following objectives: (i) Train
high level health professionals and academics on infectious diseases and research through MSc and PhD programs; (ii) Conduct collabortaive research to develop new disease control tools and increase research out
puts.(iii) Serve as a core facility with state-of-the art laboratories to support infectious diseases research to enhance collaborative research among researchers/scientists in partner institutions
1.1.
Background of the project
Original idea and steps undertaken to elaborate the idea.
Infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, soil transmited helimenthiasis and zoonotic diseases have
been the main research topics in the IUC programme at Jimma University, resulting in the building of local
capacity in terms of human power by producing over seven individuals with PhD and seven others are close to
finalize their PhD study. Jimma University established substantial research infrastructure (Molecular Biology
Laboratory, Parasitology and Immunology Laboratory, Mycobacteriology laboratory, Bioassay Laboratory, NTDs
laboratory, Insectary, Animal House, etc.,) and eventually launched a joint doctoral school in Tropical and Infectious Diseases in collaboration with University of Ghent. Jimma University is looking for opportunities to share
experience and infrastructure with other Universities in Ethiopia that operate in the context of VLIR-UOS supported projects. Jimma University has already good track record in research and capacity building. Thus, it needs
to avail the infrastructure and capacity it has built over the last 10 years to do collaborative research on the
proposed areas with other partner institutions. Since Jimma University built capacity and has put in place good
infrastructure it will serve as a hub to bring Ambo University, Hawassa University and CVMA/AAUwhich already
began research in few areas of human and animal health through Own Initiative/TEAM projects programme. This
partner institutions are strategically located in areas where infectious diseases are highly prevalent and the
burden from such diseases is also high. Moreover, these institutions lack human power to ensure the quality of
education and research capacity for knowledge creation and technology transfer. Hence, by working with Jimma
University and Flemish Universities through this network initiative they can have more and better qualified
academic staff which can play a pivotal role in training high level professionals with better scientific and technical
NETWORK Programme Call 2015
Annex 1: Format for the concept note South
1/6
expertise urgently needed in Ethiopia. There have been contacts between Jimma University and the different
partners Universities. Jimma University and those partner Universities had successful research projects in the
area of animal and human health running for several years.
Capacity building and research at Jimma University have been supported by the IUC programme for the last 10
years, but additional funding is required to bring the partners universities together to develop curricula, launch
joint MSc and PhD programs, conduct research and set up new research facilities at the partner Universities
which do not have an IUC programme before.
Therefore, additional funding is required to scale up the
achievements and successes of IUC to a national scale and to other institutions. There is no other partner or
government funding that can pick up the network collaboration initiative as most of other funding sources focus
on institutional development.
History of the collaboration / antecedents
Antecedents – please indicate whether this project proposal is a continuation of an existing project, actions
already undertaken, or a project in finalisation phase. Describe that project in 10 lines.
Jimma university has been working with VLIR-OUS in capacity building and research since 2007 on infectious
diseases, zoonotic and animal diseases, environmental health and ecology. These projects have created over 50
PhD study opportunities, established research centers and strengthend laboratory facilities to support the
country's effort to improve the quality of teaching and enhance research. This collaborative project however is
now at its final phase. Currently, Jimma University has a good capacity building outcome and good research
track record . Moreover it has put in place good infrastructure. Therefore, in collaboration with Flemish universities, Jimma University is looking for opportunities to share experience and infrastructure with other partner
universities in Ethiopia that operate in the context of VLIR-UOS to improve their capacity in conducting research.
1.2.
Presentation of the project partners
Local project partners
Local project team
(Involved staff next to the project lead
and involved focal points and academics at other involved universities.
Professors, assistants, (administrative) collaborators, etc, ; involved
departments/universities.)
The infectious diseases research team at Jimma University has a long
experience on infectious diseases research. It is a multidisciplinary team
comprised of medical entomologists, parasitologists, Microbiologists,
epidemiologists, molecular biologists,veterinarians, public health specialists, molecular biologists, sociologists and a biostatistician. The team
is thus with multidisciplinary expertise.to undertake innovative research
on infectious diseases. There are also administrative and field station
staffs in the team.
Capacities and strategic interest (as
they relate to the project)
Given the scientific expertise and good infrastructure with well established & fully equipped research facilities, the infectious diseses research team at Jimma University has the capacity to lead the network to
undertake high quality collaborative research with partner universities
and build the capacity of partner universities through training high level
health professionals and academics through joint masters and PhD
programs
Our strategic interest is to forge strong partnership with Souh universities and Flemish Universities to build the capacities of partner Universities in the South to train high level professionals who undertake basic
and applied research to develop disease surveillance and monitoring
systems and also develop new or improved technologies or tools for
detection, diagnosis, trearment, prevention and control of infectious
diseases. support the partner universities to develop graduate program
curricula to enhance competencies in teaching and research.
NETWORK Programme Call 2015
Annex 1: Format for the concept note South
2/6
Experience (academic, international)
of the promoter
Dr. Delenasaw Yewhalaw is a Medical Entomologist. He is an Associate
Professor and currently Head of Tropical and Infectious Diseases
Research Center (TIDRC) and Coordinator of Tropical and Infectious
Diseases postgraduate program at Jimma University. He is a recognized malaria researcher and has enormous research experience on
malaria and its vectors. He has worked on malaria research for over 11
years. He is consulting USAID/PMI on malaria vector monitoring and
surveillance in Ethiopia. He has a good research track record and
acquisition and management of several international research grant
projects (eg., WHO/TDR, NIH, NSS, FV). He has also an experience in
mentoring MSc and PhD students. Currently, he is supervising 5 MSC
and 9 PhD students working on malaria, leishmaniasis, onchcercisais
and other infectious diseases. He authored and co-authored over 27
papers inpeer-reviewed journals and contributed two book chapters on
malaria. He has also presented his work on several international scientific conferences and symposia.
Links to other relevant national and
international collaborating institutes
(name, nature) and society in a
broader sense (government, NGO,
The infectious diseases research team at Jimma University has several
national, regional and international collaborating academic and research
institutes, government sector agencies, societies working on malaria,TB/HIV, soil transmitted helimenthiasis, zoonotic diseases and other
etc.)
infectious diseases such as the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Imperial College, London, University of Crete, Greece,
University of California, Irvine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine,University College London-UCL (UK), University of Bergen, Norway, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine, London, UK, and Institute of Tropical Medicine,
University of Crete. Local collaborating institutes include: Armour
Hanson Research Institute, Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Ethiopian
Public Health Institute, Ethiopian Water Resources Institute and Aklilu
Lemma Institute of Pathobiology. Malaria Consortium and Ethiopian
Society of Tropical and Infectious Diseases,
Other involved actors (if applicable)
Name and function of the actor
(Partner University 1)
Dr Eskinder Loha (Epidemiologist)
Major (project related) activities
He is a researcher on malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. He provides
training on appropriate epidemiological tools, statistical data management skills using statistical software packages (SPSS, STATA, ENA for
SMART etc). He has worked in malaria research for the last 5 years.
He published over 22 scientific papers on peer-reviewed journals. He is
also consulting ESHE-USAID, Save the Children- USA, Federal Ministry
of Health of Ethiopia, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Integrated
Family Health Program, EVIDENCE TO ACTION PROJECT on health.
Capacities and strategic interest (as
they relate to the project)
The team constitutes a primary epidemiologists and health care expert.
Hawassa University is located in a region where malaria infectious
diseases such as malaria is endemic at nearby places Hence, it’s a
strategic interest to start up partnership in capacity building and research with HU.
Reasons for which the actor is
involved in the project
Partners of the network and coordinator
NETWORK Programme Call 2015
Annex 1: Format for the concept note South
3/6
1.3.
Link with the VLIR-UOS country strategy
VLIR-UOS country stragey for Ethiopia has identified health as a national area of priority sector for intervention
within the IUC programme. Therefore, building the capacity of the partner universities is a major objective. This
NUC project aims to support partner universities on capacity building and research on infectious diseases of
nation importance, thus scaling up capacity building to the national level through partnership.
1.4.
Link with other initiatives (complementarity/synergy)
Link with initiatives taken in the same domain by other organisations (local, regional, Belgian, etc.) and in other
VLIR-UOS activities.
The infectious diseases research at Jimma University, Hawassa University, Ambo University and CVMA/AAU are
supported by many donors other than VLIR-OUS, e.g., WHO/TDR, USAID, NORHED, OHCEA, SENUPH,
GLOBVAC, NIH and other projects This network will open up such new opportunities also for the partner Universities.
1.5.
Beneficiaries / target group
Description of the direct beneficiaries (specific objective) and indirect beneficiaries and stakeholders (external
groups that are affected by the implementation of the project), their interest, attitude and possible role.
The direct beneficiaries from this network project are partner universities which can build their capacity and also
the lead university and partner universities which jointly reinforce their research capacity through collaborative
research, technology transfer and exchange of information through networking. Moreover, disease control
program of the country, the community living under the threat of infectious diseases, non-governmental
organizations and policy makers indirectly benefit from the out comes of the network project.
1.6.
Problem analysis
General and national presentation of the sector / development problem treated in the project, as well as the
political lines (development problem related to the sector analysis)
In Ethiopia, infectious diseases are major public health problems. Many of these diseases (e.g., malaria, Tuberculosis,HiV/AIDS, soil transmitted helimenthiasis,schistosomisis, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, human African trypanosomiasis, etc.,) are endemic in Ethiopia and are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the country and places a major burden in the population. High morbidity and mortality
associated from infectious diseases reflect the poor state of knowledge about their causes and epidemiology
and the lack of effective technologies for their control. Local specific research is important to provide accurate situation analysis on the prevalence, distribution and determinants of infection as effective control of infectious diseases is based on sound knowledge of local epidemiology of the diseases as well as understanding of the role of social and behavioral factors that informs a decision-making process for disease control. Jimma University has a long experience in infectious diseases research and partner institutions that
have started to build up capacity (Hawassa University, Ambo University, CVMA/AAU) are interested to build
thier capacity.
Analysis of the capacity constraints the partners are confronted with (academic problem)
NETWORK Programme Call 2015
Annex 1: Format for the concept note South
4/6
Jimma University have a long experience in infectious diseases research of priority and some NTDs (Malaria, TB/HIV and soil transmitted helminthiasis) while other partner institutions (HU, AU and CVMA/AAU) have
started to build up capacity or are merely interested in such capacity. Jimma University has benefited from a
long term IUC project and has substantial research capacity and infrastructure, and wants to use its experience to support partner universities in developing these research capacities.
2.
Description of the project
Summary
Infectious diseseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are pressing health and development
problems in Ethiopia and in Africa as well. Infectious diseases are changing rapidly in conjunction with dramatic societal and environmental changes. There are also Important resurging, emerging and resurging infectious diseases due to climate change, resistance of pathogens to drugs and vectors to insecticides. Thus
infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). To effectively address the threat of infectious diseases and reduce burden, there is a need to develop the capacity
of partner institutions working on the area of such diseases and undertake collaborative research to generate data for policy decision for the containment of infectious diseases that affect, or threaten to affect, the
public’s health. The expected results of this project are: 1) Build capacity of partner institutions through
launching graduate programs to produce more and better qualified health professionals with better scientific
and technical expertise through capacity building 2) to strengthen the infrastructure in partner institutions
and enhance collaborative research among partner institutions
For research activities, please elaborate the proposed research methodology and process.
Not mandatory
Describe the developmental relevance of the project.
Infectious diseases are threats to global health resulting in considerable causes of morbidity, mortality and
disability. It accounts for the majority of deaths in children and adults, absence from work and school and contribute to impaired growth in children.The disease further has serious economic impact, and is considered to
have a large contribution to poverty by slowing economic growth and development.
The current major concerns of these diseases are the emergence and spread of drug resistant pathogens
(parasites, bacteria, and virus) and insecticide resistant vectors. High morbidity and mortality associated with
these diseases reflect the poor state of knowledge about their causes and epidemiology and the limited effective
technologies for their control. Furthermore, capacity for high level professional training and advanced research
undertakings on infectious diseases in the local context is challenging.
Effective and sustainable control of infectious diseases needs highly trained human capital and research to
better understand their biological underpinnings and develop new tools including vaccines, improved diagnostics
and new drugs that are critically needed to combat these major public health problems in the region.
Therefore, building the capacity of partner institutions by launching joint MSc/ PhD programs to produce high
level professionals and who will be involved in basic and applied research to identify, develop, validate and
evaluate new tools and strategies in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of infectious diseases is a
key step forward. Thus, establishing such a network is a major objective of this project.
3.
Needs assessment and sustainability
Describe in detail the capacity of the different local units, preconditions and major problems that could be enNETWORK Programme Call 2015
Annex 1: Format for the concept note South
5/6
countered as also potential external influencing factors (feasibility).
From preliminary discussion and partners mapping excercie, the human resource profile of the partner
institutions is low. It was also understood that all partner institutions feel that they can learn from each other
and there is readiness of the lead and experienced institution to share experience with partners and provide
them access to infrastructure, and readiness of partner institutions to learn from other partner universities
and share their own experience and resources with other network members. There is enthusiasm to learn,
receive guidance and support from more experienced and lead partner. Partners must avail themselves to
attend the consultative meetings, workshops, curriculum development and competitive grant proposal writing, so that a network can be established and run efficiently. All partners have basic capacity to set up the
basic facilities at their home institution, but Jimma University has more advanced capacity because of the
state-of-the art facilities it has been investing in over the last many years to run high level research, Jimma
University also agrees to avail the all the facilities available in Tropical and Infectious Disease Research
Center (TIDRC) and field research station for the required collaborative research with partner institutions.
Priority will also be given to strengthen partnerships between partner institutions to ensure sustainability.
Describe the opportunities and challenges for the sustainability of benefits (capacity retention, continuation of
research activities, etc.)
This research network combines South Universities with substantial and limited research experience in
infectious diseases in general and in malaria, tuberculosis and soil transmitted helimenthiasis in general.
This network provides opportunities for the partner institutions to.create synergy promote operational efficiency of the project. In institutions with substantial expertise such as Jimma University, it allows postdoctoral researchers to continue their research and reap the benefits of their previous PhD study. In the younger
institutions, the new MSc/ PhD researchers will join efforts with their more experienced colleagues and make
part of a network that will give them ample opportunities for further collaboration in the future. To maintain
sustainability, the researchers from both institutions will actively be engaged in sharing of experience and
expertise including writing of joint grant proposals, engagement in consultancy services, exchange of staff
and students, These activities will create long-term capacity of the collaborating institutes to mobilize supplementary resources from other sources. The partnership lays foundation for further collaboration and creation of sustainable capacity. Staff turnover could be a challenge at partner institutions and a retation mechanism will be in place to engage the staff in research.
NETWORK Programme Call 2015
Annex 1: Format for the concept note South
6/6