FUNDING ORGANIZATION	RESEARCH ORGANIZATION	PROGRAM	DIRECTOR	CITY	COUNTRY	ABSTRACT
	EC	IFAKARA HEALTH INSTITUTE	AFRICAN VECTOR CONTROL: NEW TOOLS	KILLEEN, GERARD	DAR ES SALAAM	TANZANIA	View
The AvecNet consortium will develop practical solutions to the current limitations of vector control strategies in Africa using a combination of translationally-aware, state of the art science and end user analysis to ensure successful development and uptake of the new and improved approaches to malaria control and elimination. Our carefully balanced, multidisciplinary team of European and African experts includes vector biologists, engineers, epidemiologists, social scientists and leaders of large supranational consortia. These partners are all prominent members of global vector control research programs having unique specialization in Africa-centric projects. Together we have developed a proposal focused specifically to address the three major research challenges that confront efforts to interrupt mosquito-mediated transmission of malaria in Africa: 1. The need for practical strategies to prolong the efficacy of existing insecticide-based vector control methods, 2.The need to develop new interventions that target all major malaria vectors, that are simultaneously effective, socially acceptable and sustainable, 3. The impact of the major demographic and environmental changes occurring in Africa on malaria epidemiology and control. These research activities are cross-linked by specific tasks to reinforce our commitment to ensure sustainability, engage all stakeholders and strengthen research capacity in Africa. Overall, the project will add significant value to the international research effort in vector control by taking forward the state of the art and translating this into new or improved control tools that will be trialled within the time frame of this project. The studies planned in this collaborative project will provide scalable solutions, giving the solid platform upon which ongoing and future vector control programmes can be built.
	EC	IFAKARA HEALTH INSTITUTE	DISSECTING THE IMMUNOLOGICAL INTERPLAY BETWEEN POVERTY RELATED DISEASES AND HELMINTH INFECTIONS: AN AFRICAN-EUROPEAN RESEARCH INITIATIVE	ABDULLA, SALIM	DAR ES SALAAM	TANZANIA	View
Worm infections are receiving increased attention due to: the wide geographic overlap in occurrence between worms and HIV, TB and malaria; the large proportion of individuals (minimal estimates around 25%) co-infected with worms and HIV/TB/ malaria; the potential risk of increasing disease burden; the very limited understanding of the impact by worm infections on HIV-, TB- and malaria-specific immune responses and on their clinical outcome; the lack of established intervention guidelines for treatment of worm infections; and the scarce information on the impact by worm infections on vaccination and vaccine-induced immune responses. In order to address these complex and challenging scientific issues, IDEA project will focus its efforts on four primary objectives: a) the worm-induced modulation of the functional and molecular profile of HIV-, TB- and malaria-specific immune responses, b) the impact by worm co-infections on measures of disease activity of PRDs, c) the immunologic markers of worm-, HIV-, TB- and malaria-specific immune responses associated with better control of pathogen replication and disease, and d) the modulation by worm co-infections of vaccine-induced immune responses. To achieve these objectives, IDEA project has developed a global and innovative strategy which includes: a) the alliance between African and European leading scientists in the field of worms, HIV, TB and malaria, b) the multidisciplinary expertise involving immunologists, parasitologists, epidemiologists, clinicians, and experts in vaccines, c) cutting edge immunology and the most innovative technologies to profile immune response, d) the access to large cohort studies bringing a number of centres working on worms and PRDs in Africa together, and e) the access to experimental HIV, TB and malaria vaccine candidates under clinical development in Africa.
	EC	IFAKARA HEALTH INSTITUTE	ENHANCING HUMAN RESOURCES AND USE OF APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES FOR MATERNAL AND PERINATAL SURVIVAL IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA	MBARUKU, GODFREY	DAR ES SALAAM	TANZANIA	View
Most African women face childbirth without access to skilled health workers when obstetric and neonatal emergencies arise. Providing and retaining skilled health workers is vital in attempts to save the 600,000 women and 7 million babies who die annually in Africa. In the modern world this tragedy is unacceptable and largely preventable. Education and training for health professionals is the key to improving healthcare for mothers and babies in Africa. Non-Physician Clinicians (NPCs) are an effective and retainable health solution for doctor-less rural and some urban areas of Africa. Task shifting to NPCs needs to be extended, enhanced, endorsed and supported by the healthcare community and will be the aim of Work Package 1 (WP1) and WP3. The project aims to develop, implement and evaluate clinical service improvement through clinical guidelines and pathways in WP2, structured education and clinical leadership training (WP3) and workforce development of NPCs and faculty (WP1, WP3). A key element will be continuing support for NPCs in the workplace using communications technology and mentorship from local and international physicians (WP1, WP3). All service improvements will be sustainable, scalable, cost-effective, transferrable and co-developed by professional partners in Africa. Bringing together key European and African partners with GE Healthcare to address the major issues of enhancing a sustainable healthcare workforce and enhancing appropriate training in the use of existing technologies should help to significantly reduce the loss of mothers and babies in Africa.
	EC	IFAKARA HEALTH INSTITUTE	EXPANDED QUALITY MANAGEMENT USING INFORMATION POWER FOR MATERNAL AND NEWBORN HEALTH IN AFRICA	MANZI, FATUMA	DAR ES SALAAM	TANZANIA	View
Maternal and new-born MDGs 4 and 5 will likely not be met in Africa despite the availability of evidence-based, affordable and appropriate technical interventions. Obstacles persist on both the demand side (low utilization) and supply side (low quality and lack of services), across the continuum of care from pregnancy to postnatal care. Priority must now be given to finding the mechanisms to bridge the “know-do gap”. Potential solutions include quality management and community involvement, where both approaches benefit from continuous, locally available, high-quality health information. We propose an innovative intervention in Tanzania and Uganda to improve maternal and new-born health with an expanded health system quality management approach that links communities and facilities using locally generated data. We will use Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles at community, health facility and district level powered by information from continuous multipurpose community and health facility surveys, with results presented in audience-specific report cards. In each country, we will use a plausibility design to evaluate health and quality outcomes in intervention and control districts, each covering 20–30 health facilities and their catchment populations in Tanzania and Uganda. Cost and community effectiveness of this intervention will be estimated with population and facility level indicators. Changes in contextual factors will be carefully documented to enhance our understanding of how health improvements were achieved. The impact on mortality will be modelled using the Lives Saved Tool. Policymakers will be involved throughout the project. Results will contribute to reaching the MDGs 4&5 in Africa. Furthermore, the intervention could serve as a more general model for scaling-up quality management of other health interventions in low-resource settings.
	EC	IFAKARA HEALTH INSTITUTE	UNIVERSAL COVERAGE IN TANZANIA AND SOUTH AFRICA: MONITORING AND EVALUATING PROGRESS	MAMDANI, MASUMA	DAR ES SALAAM	TANZANIA	View
The goal of universal health coverage is receiving growing attention. How best to improve risk pooling and to ensure that the most socially disadvantaged receive priority in having their health care costs met, are questions yet to be answered, particularly within the African context where very few countries have achieved universal health systems. South Africa is introducing National Health Insurance, where formal sector workers will make mandatory contributions which will be pooled with allocations from general tax revenue. Tanzania is integrating existing health insurance schemes for formal and informal sector workers under the management of a single insurer. Translating such health financing reforms into intended changes ‘on the ground’ requires a well functioning monitoring and evaluation system which provides data that allow policies to be improved over time, and consequently strengthen their potential to achieve universal health coverage. This research aims to support these reforms intended to achieve universal coverage in South Africa and Tanzania by monitoring and evaluating the policy processes. Specifically, it seeks to: track policy formulation and planning for implementation; monitor the progress of policy implementation at both the national and district levels, with an emphasis on identifying implementation problems and serving as an ‘early warning system’ for policy makers and implementers; evaluate the impact of interventions aimed at progressing towards the goal of universal coverage; engage with policy makers and implementers at all levels about the research findings throughout the study period; and synthesise the results from the studies in the two countries, and compare these with experiences in other countries, to draw out policy implications on health financing mechanisms and implementation strategies supporting the achievement of universal coverage for quality health care in low- and middle-income countries.