Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EU-Africa PerMed (BUILDING LINKS BETWEEN EUROPE AND AFRICA IN PERSONALISED MEDICINE)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-08-01 al 2024-01-31
The EU-Africa PerMed project (Building Links Between Europe and Africa in Personalised Medicine) has the overall aim of integrating African countries into ICPerMed activities, thus contributing to a successful implementation of Personalised Medicine (PM) in the global context. It will foster joint PM projects and programmes between Europe and Africa, as well as strengthening bilateral EU-AU science, technology and innovation (STI) relations in the area of health.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is showing, addressing global health challenges is only possible by building and strengthening international, inter-continental and national scientific cooperation. EU-Africa PerMed will work towards fostering a stronger global collaboration in PM through the umbrella of ICPerMed, and by this, to better tackle global health challenges such as infectious diseases and future pandemics as well as the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The project will run for 4 years, starting on the 1st. of February 2021. The project is implemented by a consortium of 13 partners, 6 from Europe and 7 from Africa and is organized around 7 specific objectives:
• To identify, contact and engage with relevant health-related organisations in Africa to interact and work with throughout the project, to achieve the aims of the project.
• To explore and analyse with relevant stakeholder, the potential for and advantages of collaboration in PM between Africa and Europe, identifying areas of mutual interest and added value for both regions and building sustainable links between both regions, as a means to integrate the African continent in the global PM agenda.
• To foster and facilitate the integration of health research funding and policy organisations from African Union (AU) countries in the ICPerMed consortium, and in ERA PerMed.
• To seek synergies and align with activities of ongoing EU-Africa research programmes and other by-regional policy actions, such as the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials partnerships (EDCTP) and the Africa-Europe Alliance for sustainable investments and jobs, as well as with international research consortiums active in Africa.
• To carry out capacity building and training activities addressing relevant PM issues for Africa, including the wider adoption of PM standards and taking into account the social, cultural, ethical and legal aspects of the African context
• To contribute to raising awareness of PM and the benefits of a closer inter and intra-regional collaboration, in order to advance in the implementation of PM approaches, through the dissemination and communication of the project activities and results and the planification of a long-lasting strategy beyond the duration of the project.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is showing, addressing global health challenges is only possible by building and strengthening international, inter-continental and national scientific cooperation. EU-Africa PerMed will work towards fostering a stronger global collaboration in PM through the umbrella of ICPerMed, and by this, to better tackle global health challenges such as infectious diseases and future pandemics as well as the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The project will run for 4 years, starting on the 1st. of February 2021. The project is implemented by a consortium of 13 partners, 6 from Europe and 7 from Africa and is organized around 7 specific objectives:
• To identify, contact and engage with relevant health-related organisations in Africa to interact and work with throughout the project, to achieve the aims of the project.
• To explore and analyse with relevant stakeholder, the potential for and advantages of collaboration in PM between Africa and Europe, identifying areas of mutual interest and added value for both regions and building sustainable links between both regions, as a means to integrate the African continent in the global PM agenda.
• To foster and facilitate the integration of health research funding and policy organisations from African Union (AU) countries in the ICPerMed consortium, and in ERA PerMed.
• To seek synergies and align with activities of ongoing EU-Africa research programmes and other by-regional policy actions, such as the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials partnerships (EDCTP) and the Africa-Europe Alliance for sustainable investments and jobs, as well as with international research consortiums active in Africa.
• To carry out capacity building and training activities addressing relevant PM issues for Africa, including the wider adoption of PM standards and taking into account the social, cultural, ethical and legal aspects of the African context
• To contribute to raising awareness of PM and the benefits of a closer inter and intra-regional collaboration, in order to advance in the implementation of PM approaches, through the dissemination and communication of the project activities and results and the planification of a long-lasting strategy beyond the duration of the project.
Main worked carried out so far (M1-M36) is summarized below:
• The mapping activities carried out have delivered an important output of this work: the Scientific and policy mapping report (D2.1) the stakeholder mapping report (D2.2) and the policy brief on Opportunities to Advance Personalised Medicine in Africa (D2.4).
• The organization of the 1st. Stakeholder workshop, the first and most important project event with African stakeholders on the Feb 2022. It provided the first opportunity to interact with African stakeholders and to present the project work.
• The project has identified a first list of African PM needs (D3.1) and the Identification and collection of areas of mutual interest for PM between Europe and Africa (D3.2).
• Regional assessment of African gaps and needs in PM, with two regional meetings, one in Kenya (July22) and another in South Africa (Dec23). Regional engagement has also taken place with North African countries and in the West-Central Africa region, through online meetings with different group of stakeholders. A report on gaps and needs assessment in African PM ecosystem has been prepared (D3.3).
• The 2nd Stakeholder workshop (WP3. Task 3.2) took place in Cape Town (South Africa) in February 2023, hosted by the SAMRC with a great success.
• Related to capacity building and training activities (WP5), the 1st summer school was organized in Cape Town (S. Africa) in February 2023, focused on “Adoption and integration of standards in PM research”. The 2nd. Summer school, focused on “Implementation of Personalised Medicine” has started. It will take place in May 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The project has organized so far, a total of 8 webinars focused on different aspects of PM: More than 700 people have joined the webinars. All the recordings are available in the project YouTube channel.
• As a first important outcome of this activity, we can highlight as relevant project outputs that two African Organizations are now full members of ICPerMed: a) South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) joined in July 2022 and participated as funding agency in the Joint Transnational Call 2022 of ERA PerMed. b) The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) from Egypt joined in 2023.
• The project is advancing on the preparation of the EU-Africa PerMed Action Plan, that will present a strategy to facilitate, foster and promote PM collaboration between Africa and Europe based on the findings from the EU-Africa PerMed project work.
• The interaction with the AU-EU policy dialogue is ongoing, the project has been selected to contribute to the implementation of the AU-EU Innovation agenda.
• The mapping activities carried out have delivered an important output of this work: the Scientific and policy mapping report (D2.1) the stakeholder mapping report (D2.2) and the policy brief on Opportunities to Advance Personalised Medicine in Africa (D2.4).
• The organization of the 1st. Stakeholder workshop, the first and most important project event with African stakeholders on the Feb 2022. It provided the first opportunity to interact with African stakeholders and to present the project work.
• The project has identified a first list of African PM needs (D3.1) and the Identification and collection of areas of mutual interest for PM between Europe and Africa (D3.2).
• Regional assessment of African gaps and needs in PM, with two regional meetings, one in Kenya (July22) and another in South Africa (Dec23). Regional engagement has also taken place with North African countries and in the West-Central Africa region, through online meetings with different group of stakeholders. A report on gaps and needs assessment in African PM ecosystem has been prepared (D3.3).
• The 2nd Stakeholder workshop (WP3. Task 3.2) took place in Cape Town (South Africa) in February 2023, hosted by the SAMRC with a great success.
• Related to capacity building and training activities (WP5), the 1st summer school was organized in Cape Town (S. Africa) in February 2023, focused on “Adoption and integration of standards in PM research”. The 2nd. Summer school, focused on “Implementation of Personalised Medicine” has started. It will take place in May 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The project has organized so far, a total of 8 webinars focused on different aspects of PM: More than 700 people have joined the webinars. All the recordings are available in the project YouTube channel.
• As a first important outcome of this activity, we can highlight as relevant project outputs that two African Organizations are now full members of ICPerMed: a) South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) joined in July 2022 and participated as funding agency in the Joint Transnational Call 2022 of ERA PerMed. b) The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) from Egypt joined in 2023.
• The project is advancing on the preparation of the EU-Africa PerMed Action Plan, that will present a strategy to facilitate, foster and promote PM collaboration between Africa and Europe based on the findings from the EU-Africa PerMed project work.
• The interaction with the AU-EU policy dialogue is ongoing, the project has been selected to contribute to the implementation of the AU-EU Innovation agenda.
The EU-Africa PerMed project has the final objective of integrating African countries into ICPerMed activities as a means to contribute to a successful implementation of PM in the global context, fostering joint PM projects and programmes between Europe and Africa, as well as strengthening bilateral EU-AU science, technology and innovation (STI) relations in the area of health.
Two new African organizations have joined ICPerMed thanks to the work of EU-Africa PerMed: the South African Medical Research Council (SAMR) and The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) from Egypt.
The mapping work has shown that the African continent cannot be seen as whole when it comes to discuss about health/biomedical research and opportunities for collaboration with Europe. Many cultural, political, social and economic differences exist between regions and countries in Africa, that influence the opportunities and options for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and health research collaboration within Africa and internationally and determine the models and programmes to support and strengthen this collaboration.
The genetic diversity of African populations, particularly because of the historical background, can greatly contribute to enhancing the global knowledge thereby enhancing the development of broadly applicable PM approaches and efficacious drugs and vaccines among other developments.
The EU-Africa PerMed project is working towards achieving the following impacts:
1. Integrating African organization in ICPerMed activities
2. Support wider adoption of PM research standards developed in Europe. Sharing standards for PM research is important to facilitate international collaboration in research projects, for the participation in PM clinical trials, sharing of data and samples.
3. Support the EU-AU policy dialogues relevant to research and health, so that Pm is better understood and incorporated in already existing and new STI policy actions and programmes.
Two new African organizations have joined ICPerMed thanks to the work of EU-Africa PerMed: the South African Medical Research Council (SAMR) and The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) from Egypt.
The mapping work has shown that the African continent cannot be seen as whole when it comes to discuss about health/biomedical research and opportunities for collaboration with Europe. Many cultural, political, social and economic differences exist between regions and countries in Africa, that influence the opportunities and options for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and health research collaboration within Africa and internationally and determine the models and programmes to support and strengthen this collaboration.
The genetic diversity of African populations, particularly because of the historical background, can greatly contribute to enhancing the global knowledge thereby enhancing the development of broadly applicable PM approaches and efficacious drugs and vaccines among other developments.
The EU-Africa PerMed project is working towards achieving the following impacts:
1. Integrating African organization in ICPerMed activities
2. Support wider adoption of PM research standards developed in Europe. Sharing standards for PM research is important to facilitate international collaboration in research projects, for the participation in PM clinical trials, sharing of data and samples.
3. Support the EU-AU policy dialogues relevant to research and health, so that Pm is better understood and incorporated in already existing and new STI policy actions and programmes.