The West Africa Mathematical Modelling Capacity Development programme at the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Ghana Medical School, hosted its first consortium meeting at the Alisa Hotel from May 31st to June 3rd, 2023.
The symposium brought together project trainees and mentors from different West African countries participating in the consortium. The purpose of the meeting was to provide the trainees with new skills in disease modeling and to allow them to present the progress of their research studies. It also served as a platform for project stakeholders to discuss the consortium's progress.
During the opening ceremony, Prof Yaw Asare Afrane, the Principal Investigator of the Project, shared details about the project activities and the plan for the trainees. He mentioned that the consortium consisted of 27 students, including junior faculty, postdocs, PhD candidates, and a few master's students, and expressed the hope of increasing these numbers in the coming year.
The Programme Manager of the National Malaria Elimination Programme, Dr. Keziah Malm, presented on Ghana's efforts to combat malaria. She highlighted the country's transition from malaria control to elimination and noted a 53% decline in malaria-related deaths. Dr. Malm encouraged participants to align their modeling work with the direction of policymakers to support the goal of elimination.
Emphasizing the importance of building the research capacity of young African scientists, Prof. Gordon Awandare, the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for his part, urged the young modelers to aspire and strive to deliver high-quality results.
He also advised the Principal Investigators of the consortium to create an environment conducive to contextual training that would equip African researchers to excel in their work. He highlighted the achievements of WACCBIP, which capitalized on its environment to make significant progress.
Dr. Jennifer Gardy, the Programme Manager for Modelling in Sub-Saharan Africa at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, shared insights on the implementation of interventions across different regions of sub-Saharan Africa. She emphasized that the effectiveness of interventions varies across districts due to the specific epidemiology of malaria in each area.
While stressing the importance of data in informing policy decisions, Dr. Gardy encouraged modelers to collaborate closely with their National Malaria Control and Elimination Programmes while working with data.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to build the capacity of the next generation of modelers by training young scientists and creating a community that fosters collaboration among different countries. This initiative seeks to leverage expertise from global partners to develop analytical modeling skills and make a significant impact in the field of malaria research.
The symposium featured presentations and discussions on various topics, including malaria modeling, geospatial modeling, machine learning, building a career in health research, and the use of R in disease modeling, among others.
The consortium consists of the University of Ghana, the Federal University Oye-Ekiti in Nigeria, the University of Thiès in Senegal, the University of Conakry in Guinea, and the Bandim Health Project in Guinea Bissau. The northern partners include Northwestern University, Swiss TPH, Oxford University, Malaria Consortium, and PATH.
