Bamako hosted from 05 to 07 February 2020, the 3rd annual meeting of the West African Network for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria / West African Network for TB, AIDS and Malaria (WANETAM).
“Empowering African clinical research institutions through capacity building”. This was the theme of the 3rd annual meeting of the West African Network for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria. The opening ceremony of the meeting was chaired by the Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Mahamadou Famanta, in the presence of the WANETAM Network Coordinator, Prof. Souleymane MBOUP.
“Our companion” Ogo “has put off his researcher’s coat leaving us alone to take up the challenge of quality research in our West African sub-region.” It is in these words full of emotion that Prof. Souleymane Mboup, Coordinator the WANETAM Network honored the memory of Prof. Ogobara. Before decreeing a minute of silence in memory of the one he affectionately calls his “friend, brother and faithful collaborator”, Professor Ogobara Doumbo, one of the pioneers of the WANETAM network.
A suffering health system
In his speech, the WANETAM Network Coordinator depicted a suffering health system in Africa, despite fairly encouraging economic growth. At the beginning of 2017, says Prof Mboup, more than 26 million people, including 2.3 million children, were suffering from HIV and sub-Saharan Africa remains the area most affected by this disease. Faced with the urgency of the situation, the EDCTP (European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership) set up a program to fight poverty in developing countries, by tackling the three poverty-related diseases in know tuberculosis, HIV AIDS and malaria.
This program has enabled the creation of sub-regional networks including WANETAM. Created in 2009, the research results of this West African network are encouraging. “We were reassured that our outputs matched the EDCTP indicators. This gives us hope for an extension of the program with the hope of receiving slightly more ambitious funding, “concluded Prof Mboup.
