Programme to support health research institutions in Africa

We contribute to improving the quality of management and coordination of research carried out in Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP).

  • WHAT WE DO

    The past few decades has seen growth in the international support provided for health research in Africa. However, research institutions face particular problems in developing good practices in the area of management, organisation and planning, all essential to ensure this research is sustainable.

    For this reason the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and ”la Caixa” Foundation, with the support of the Centro de Investigação em Saúde da Manhiça-Moçambique and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) held 3 editions of a Course in Science Management from 2018 to 2021.

    On the other hand, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the ”la Caixa” Foundation promoted a call in 2021 to support health research projects aimed at the participants of the three editions of Course in Science Management.

  • RESULTS

    • 46 researchers and/or managers of public and private research institutions were trained in the area of health in Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (PALOP).

    • 3 projects focused on the areas of microbiome, cancer and COVID-19, led by researchers from Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique and with a duration of between 2 and 3 years.

  • SELECTED PROJECTS

    • The Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones en Salud, a través del Centro de Investigaciones en Salud de Angola will carry out the project “Infections by helminths and allergic respiratory diseases. Does a neglected tropical disease influence a non-communicable disease?”. The project aims to understand the link between respiratory allergic disease and the presence of helminths (intestinal parasites) and the role that the gut microbiome may have in asthma and in the control of helminths. This project is a collaboration with Hospital Militar de Luanda y la Escola Superior de Tecnologias da Saúde de Lisboa.

    • The Instituto Nacional de Salud de Mozambique will implement the project “Epidemiology and characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection among children and their households in Mozambique”. The project consists of the study of SARS-Cov-2 in children from three primary schools in urban, peri-urban and rural neighborhoods of Maputo. The researchers will analyze the mortality and morbidity rates in these age groups, in addition to carrying out an epidemiological study and a seroprevalence survey that will reveal children's exposure to the virus.

    • The Universidade de Cabo Verde will develop the project "Clinical-pathological characterization of cancer in the PALOP countries", a project that aims to understand the incidence of prostate cancer in Cape Verde and Mozambique, carry out a biological study, find out what the most frequent subtype of cancer that causes more deaths in Cape Verde. This project also includes the creation of the “INCUBATOR” digital laboratory, a data and information publication platform to support the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The Faculty of Medicine of the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, in Mozambique, also collaborates in the project.

  • MORE INFORMATION