Middle East and North African (MENA) region news, resources and funding for global health researchers

A growing number of research and research training collaborations are being established between U.S. scientists and those based in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Some involve NIH extramural funding, others result from Visiting Scientists who come to the NIH campus. An increasing number of NIH scientists are also traveling to the region to meet with their counterparts and collaborate on research questions of common interest.

This growth in investments and engagement, despite budgetary and political challenges, is significant since the region offers much potential with a disease burden similar to that in the U.S. - high rates of diabetes, heart disease, mental disorders and cancers. The region also offers unique potential given genetic background, family structures and relatively high occurrences of some diseases considered rare in the U.S. that are difficult to research without foreign partners.

Countries and Territories in Region

Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank, Yemen

NIH Funded Research Impacting MENA

• Through grant funding to U.S. universities, NIH facilitates international collaboration in MENA in all areas of the biomedical and behavioral sciences.

Fogarty/NIH News

• Our Shared Ancestry in African Genomes Can Be Harnessed to Improve Health For All
  The NIH Catalyst, March 16, 2023
  
• NIH, HHS discuss health systems strengthening, sickle cell disease at US-Africa summit
  Global Health Matters,  Jan/Feb 2023
  
• U.S-Africa Partnership in Health Cooperation
  White House fact sheet, December 13, 2022
  
• Reducing injuries in Egypt
  Global Health Matters, May/June 2022
• Researchers study refugee families’ mental health needs
  Global Health Matters, Jan /Feb 2022
  
• Through DS-I Africa, NIH is Fostering a New Health Data Science Community
  co-authored by Fogarty's Dr. Laura K. Povlich
  National Library of Medicine director's blog, February 9, 2022

Funding/Training Opportunities

• African Postdoctoral Training Initiative (APTI)
• U.S.-Egypt Science and Technology Joint Fund

U.S. Government Resources

• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Middle East-North Africa Office
  
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID):
  • Middle East Region
  • Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program

Other Resources

• American University of Beirut (AUB): Public Health in the Arab World (PHAW), an international collaborative initiative that aims at mobilizing for a new public health in the Arab region
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) report: The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy - Middle East and North Africa Regional Edition
  
• Nature Middle East: A portal site for information on scientific and medical research in the Arabic-speaking Middle East, the research community and its activities
• North Africa, Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey Public Health (NETPH) Network
  
• World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean

Fogarty Contact

Stacy Wallick, MPH
Regional Program Director for Middle East and North African (MENA) Region
Division of International Relations
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Building 31 Room B2C11
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Telephone: 301-496-2091
FAX: 301-480-3414
Email (preferred): Stacy.Wallick@nih.gov

Updated June 1, 2023