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Highlights from the 9th EDCTP Forum in Lisbon

09 Nov 2018

Researchers from IDDO and the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) presented at the 9th European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) forum held in Lisbon, Portugal from 17-21 September 2018.

Dr Mahamoud Sama Cherif presenting his poster on creating an equitable governance framework for IDDO’s Ebola research theme, credit: EDCTP forum.
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Dr Mahamoud Sama Cherif presenting his poster on creating an equitable governance framework for IDDO’s Ebola research theme, credit: EDCTP forum.

Over 500 delegates attended the 9th EDCTP forum to discuss the impact and opportunities for clinical research and sustainable development partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa.

An inspiring workshop led by Professor Philippe Guérin, Laura Merson and Trudie Lang at The Global Health Network (TGHN), presented the challenges and opportunities of data sharing. WWARN’s West African Regional Centre lead Professor Oumar Gaye shared his perspective of gathering and pooling data for collaborative analyses with multiple partners in the region. The workshop is well timed to support EDCTP as it explores new strategies with programme partners to share and re-use research data more openly. The workshop team launched a new partnership initiative that will provide practical tools and guidance on data sharing. 

Our Scientific Symposium, ‘Data sharing for global research good’, focused on specific data sharing case studies across multiple infectious and neglected tropical diseases. Michael Ochieng Otieno at DNDi discussed how IDDO is developing a data-sharing platform for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) whilst Dr Mahamoud Sama Cherif, EDCTP-TDR fellow, explained the key steps taken to create an equitable governance framework for IDDO’s Ebola research theme. Michael and Mahamoud were also joined by colleagues at WWARN. Dr Paul Sondo, TDR fellow from the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro in Burkina Faso*, presented WWARN’s experience  generating reliable evidence from IPD meta-analyses whilst Senior Scientist Elizabeth Allen presented the latest additions to the WWARN Malaria Toolkit.

*TDR is the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, hosted by the World Health Organization. TDR Fellows spend 12 months working with WWARN and IDDO on special projects.