Sub-Saharan African region news, resources and funding for global health researchers

NIH supports a diverse mix of research projects in Sub-Saharan Africa with significant activities in approximately 20 African countries. About a third of the funding supports groundbreaking research and research training on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, including a substantial effort to study mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Around 20 percent funds research on other infectious diseases, ranging from population-based research on malaria, schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis, to molecular research on vectors and parasites. Chronic disease research makes up about 12 percent of the research portfolio, with the remainder devoted to child development, biodiversity, basic research and other studies.

Countries in Region

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

NIH Funded Research Impacting Sub-Saharan Africa

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

Fogarty/NIH News

• Clinicopathological Characteristics and Outcomes of Anal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients With and Without HIV Infection in Sub-Saharan Africa, co-authored by Fogarty grantee Salum J. Lidenge
  JCO Global Oncology, May 22, 2023
• Depression, suicidality, substance-use and associated factors among people living with HIV the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda, co-authored by Fogarty grantee Celestino Obua
  PLos One, May 5, 2023
• South to South Collaboration to Strengthen Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, supplement in Journal of Adolescent Health supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, May 2023
• mRNA Technology Transfer Programme moves to the next phase of its development
  WHO news, April 20, 2023
• NINDS-FIC Team Sees ‘Showcase of Amazing Neurological Research’
  NIH Record, March 17, 2023
• Our Shared Ancestry in African Genomes Can Be Harnessed to Improve Health For All
  The NIH Catalyst, March 16, 2023
  
• Researchers probe HIV-associated stroke in Zambia
  Global Health Matters, March / April 2023 
  
• Writers aim to benchmark state of data science in Africa
  Global Health Matters, March / April 2023
  
• Patient-level and system-level determinants of stroke fatality across 16 large hospitals in Ghana and Nigeria: a prospective cohort study, co-authored by Fogarty grantees Bruce Ovbiagele and Mayowa Ojo Owolabi
  Lancet Global Health, February 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
  

Funding/Training Opportunities

• Reducing Stigma to Improve HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care in LMICs
• HIV-associated Noncommunicable Diseases Research at LMIC Institutions
• Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa)
• African Postdoctoral Training Initiative (APTI)

U.S. Government Resources

• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Africa Office
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID): Global Research in Sub-Saharan Africa
  
• U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
  
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on Africa

Other Resources

• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) report: The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy - Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Edition
• African Academy of Sciences (AAS)
• Clinical Trials Community (CTC), an African Academy of Sciences platform
• African Journal Partnership Program (AJPP)
• Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA)
• Federation of African Immunological Societies (FAIS) Legacy Project to support Ph.D. students across Africa
  
• Scientific African, an open access, pan-African scientific journal
• World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa

Fogarty Contact

Stacy Wallick, MPH
Regional Program Director, Sub-Saharan Africa
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 May 26, 2023