Dr Ousmane Sarr WANETAM The West African Network of Excellence for TB, AIDS and Malaria: An Example of sub-regional Collaboration Dr Ousmane Sarr WANETAM icasa 2011, Addis

Background (1) HIV, TB, & malaria considered as poverty associated diseases Constitute major sources of morbidity & mortality in Africa with: majority of the HIV cases > 30% of TB cases & TB-HIV co-infections vast majority of malaria cases and malaria-related deaths icasa 2011, Addis

Background (2) West-African sub-region characterized by: Absence in conducting clinical trials of potential HIV vaccines and/or microbicides Poverty or lack of data on drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ongoing clinical trials for malaria vaccine candidates in Mali and Burkina Faso icasa 2011, Addis

Background (3) West-African sub-region characterized by: Many research institutions working in isolation or following colonial links Lack of critical mass of qualified personnel Inability to attract significant fundings icasa 2011, Addis

WANETAM Partnership 7 West-African countries (Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal) Bring together scientists from anglophone, francophone and lusophone countries in West Africa. icasa 2011, Addis 5

icasa 2011, Addis

Objectives Capacity building and technology transfer to prepare West African institutions for the successful conduct of clinical trials. Creation of a network for sub- regional scientific collaborations: to facilitate and expedite the development of trial-specific expertise To this extent, established west-African institutions will help prepare sister institutions for the conduct of CT icasa 2011, Addis 7

Established Institutions Burkina Faso B. F Centre MURAZ G-B, BANDIM B. F CNRFP Sister Institutions The Gambia NPHL Senegal, LBV N. Ibadan, COL.M Gh. NMIMR N. Keffi Inn.B Gh. KORLEBU N. Lagos NIMR Senegal, IPD HIV TB Malaria Bioethics, GCP, GCLP, Quality control, Writing grant applications, Trial monitoring Disease Coordinators Le Dantec Senegal MRC- the Gambia MRTC- Mali & Burkina Faso CNRFP Established Institutions Project Coordinator Le Dantec University Senegal icasa 2011, Addis 8

Activities The main activities of WANETAM are divided into 6 work packages: WP 1: Project management WP 2: Training WP 3: Networking WP 4: HIV-related lab training and surveys WP 5: TB-related lab training and surveys WP 6: Malaria-related lab training and surveys icasa 2011, Addis 9

Governance body Project Coordinator Advisory Board Steering Committee Manager HIV DC TB DC Malaria DC Training Adv. Committee To be successful, the management is key Project Secrétariat HIV Partners TB Partners Malaria Partners icasa 2011, Addis

HIV TB Malaria TRAININGS Le Dantec University- Senegal Molecular virology HIV resistance typing Assay standardization TRAININGS HIV CROSS CUTTING Bioethics GCP GCLP Quality control Writing grant applications Trial monitoring MRTC- Mali/ CNRFP-BF Malaria specific techniques Molecular biology – Haplotyping of parasites Drug-resistant mutations New diagnostic tools Malaria Immunology TB MRC- the Gambia Conventional and molecular TB diagnostics and drug susceptibility testing Malaria icasa 2011, Addis 11

Achievements (1) Cross-cutting trainings Disease-specific trainings Ethics in clinical research, January, 2011 Data management and GCP, March 2011 Data analysis and grant writing, April 2011 Good Clinical and Lab Practices, May, 2011 Disease-specific trainings HIV Drug resistance, March 2011 TB Diagnostics & DST, January to February 2011 Malaria Diagnostics, November 2010 icasa 2011, Addis

icasa 2011, Addis

Achievements (2) In total, 185 junior and senior scientists have received clinical trials-associated trainings increasing the critical mass of qualified personnel Lab and/or infrastructure upgrade have been carried out in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Senegal icasa 2011, Addis

icasa 2011, Addis

Networking For sustainability purposes , some institutions have jointly submitted grant proposals: WAPHIR WANETAM + FP7 call Tri Lateral Initiative icasa 2011, Addis

Communication Strategy Basecamp: is a web-based platform in which partners share information that are of interest for the Network. https://wanetamproject.basecamphq.com Voice on IP: is a new teleconference system allowing free communications between the WANETAM partners Creation of a website: www.wanetam.org Newsletters icasa 2011, Addis 17

Basecamp icasa 2011, Addis

Telephony over Internet Protocol WANETAM Netcentrex Communications sur IP Telephony over Internet Protocol By WAVCOM TECHNOLOGY - www.wavcom-technology.com icasa 2011, Addis

WANETAM Institution Le Dantec (Senegal) Local Network GSM Network World Wide Web WANETAM Institution Le Dantec (Senegal) icasa 2011, Addis

Conclusions increase of the critical mass of qualified personnel Infrastructural upgrade in most institutions Harmonization of protocoles in progress Sub-regional scientific collaboration is a reality WAPHIR, WANETAM + icasa 2011, Addis

Acknowledgements WANETAM partner institutions EDCTP NACCAP (the Dutch contribution to EDCTP) MRC, The UK icasa 2011, Addis

icasa 2011, Addis