As part of an ongoing effort to expand research training opportunities for French speakers in West Africa, 46 students (out of more than 1,500 applicants) were selected for master’s scholarships to study at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.
TDR is offering scholarships for students who will be studying for a Master’s in Epidemiology at the Institute of Health and Development at Cheikh Anta Diop University from January 2022. The master’s programme is taught in French.
The objective of the postgraduate training programme is to strengthen capacity to conduct implementation research on COVID-19, neglected tropical diseases, malaria, tuberculosis, and tuberculosis and HIV co-infection. With COVID-19 vaccines reaching less than 2% of people in many countries in Africa, there is a clear need for research to understand the bottlenecks to delivering the vaccine. Students will be armed with skills and tools to explore these and other implementation challenges, including those related to sustaining other disease control and elimination programmes amid the pandemic.
Cheikh Anta Diop University received a total of 1 682 applications, of which 1 506 were eligible. The selected students, of which almost half are women, hail from 16 countries in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda and Senegal.
“Not surprisingly, the call for applications revealed significant demand for research training in French,” said Professor Adama Faye, Director of the Institute of Health and Development. “We are excited to offer this new opportunity to strengthen capacity in the region.”
The Institute of Health and Development has a strong track record of working with Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Welfare to support training, research and implementation of health interventions, and is part of the network of excellence for training public health specialists in West Africa.
The postgraduate training programme also aims to strengthen the capacity of institutions and faculty to deliver courses in innovative ways. Given the pandemic, many courses are integrating virtual tools and adopting fully online or hybrid formats.
“As a long-term partner of the TDR, Luxembourg is deeply committed to fighting infectious diseases and eager to support French-speaking research in Sub-Saharan Africa in the field. We are delighted that this masters’ programme is in place and congratulate the selected students on their admission!” said Manuel Tonnar, Director for Development and Humanitarian Affairs in the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
This programme has also been possible through coordinated efforts of donors. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has joined Luxembourg in supporting this programme as part of their Global and Public Health research strategy. This will allow the university to accept a larger number of applicants.
“The BMBF values this programme as a great opportunity to move forward in tackling global health challenges,” according to a BMBF statement. “BMBF expects to see a positive impact as they have found with its initiative on Research Networks for Health innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa with French-speaking scientists.”
For more information, please contact Dr Mahnaz Vahedi.