WWARN’s West Africa Regional Centre announces new management team
WWARN’s Regional Centres were established to support researchers and public health practitioners to strengthen their skills and expertise in the field of malaria and more recently in other emerging infections.
WWARN is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof Oumar Gaye from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in Dakar, Senegal, to lead the West Africa Regional Centre (WARC). Prof Gaye will oversee a team that includes Dr Magatte Ndiaye, Scientific Coordinator, and Penda Touré, Administrative and Financial Manager, also based in the WWARN office at UCAD.
WWARN’s Regional Centres were established to support researchers and public health practitioners to strengthen their skills and expertise in the field of malaria and more recently in other emerging infections. Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) drug efficacy can be affected by multiple factors including dosing, drug resistance to one or both medicines, co-morbidities (e.g. HIV, malnutrition, drug-drug interaction, drug absorption and specific conditions such as pregnancy). To understand and respond to these challenges, the West Africa Regional Centre is intensifying its efforts to work with partners in the region on three key initiatives.
The first will focus on supporting researchers to identify and adapt research approaches to meet the challenges of local endemic communities and stakeholders. This will be delivered through a series of ongoing training workshops that will develop a critical mass of scientists who can provide valuable evidence to support National Malaria Control Programmes (NMCPs) to deliver effective control and elimination efforts in West Africa.
The WARC training programme will benefit from two complementary initiatives:
- the UCAD research and training environment which includes a PhD programme in Malaria & Human Diseases led by Prof Gaye
- the nomination of Prof Gaye as the Director of the recently launched DELTA programme ‘Malaria Research Capacity Development in West & Central Africa’ (MACARD), an initiative to provide PhD, early and senior post-doctoral fellowships in areas of research relevant to malaria elimination, with a special focus on supporting women in research.
Prof Gaye comments: “Through building the skills of researchers, especially women, in endemic areas we will ensure that our research community is able to share knowledge and collaborate effectively to deliver evidence that has a real impact on the lives of our communities, and can contribute to the global drive to eliminate malaria for good.”
In addition, the WARC team will coordinate an ongoing literature review and data analysis of molecular markers of sulfadoxine pyrimethamine (SP) in collaboration with the MIP Consortium and common ACT partner drugs. The review will assess multiple markers, by gathering and curating data from partners from across the region, including data from unpublished studies. The Molecular Surveyors will be updated following the literature review.
Prof Gaye and the regional team are keen to continue collaborating with the WHO / AFRO, WHO/HQ, the RBM West Africa Region Network, the West African Health Organization (WAHO), multiple research institutes, universities and development agencies to develop more opportunities for regional partnerships.
Contact magatte.ndiaye@wwarn.org to share your ideas, and visit our Collaborator Network Map for details of our existing partners.
Find out more about our West Africa Regional Centre.
* Prof Gaye serves as a Malaria Advisor for the WHO Regional Office in Africa and for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prof Gaye chairs the Research Committee for the National Malaria Control Programme in Senegal and is a member of the Senegalese National Academia of Science and Technology (ANST). He was the Coordinator for the Réseau d'Afrique de l'Ouest pour le Traitement Antipaludique (RAOTAP).
* Dr Magatte Ndiaye is Assistant Professor of Parasitology at the Faculty of Medicine at UCAD. Dr Ndiaye was a Malaria Capacity Development Consortium (MCDC) PhD and Postdoctoral Fellow. As the focal point of Molecular Biology analysis at the Parasitology laboratory in UCAD, Dr Ndiaye recently organized a TDR/WHO supported workshop at UCAD to strengthen junior African scientist from 7 countries in research capacity on antimalarial resistance markers. Dr Ndiaye is the Chair of the Senegalese National Young Academia of Science and Technology (ANJSS) and a member of the African Society of Parasitology (SOAP).
* Penda Touré has been the WARC Administrative & Finance Manager since August 2011. Penda carefully manages the administration of a number of research grants and has experience in helping to support the development of coordination meetings and training workshops. Penda also supports other staff and projects based in the WARC offices in UCAD.