WHEN AFRICA PRODUCES ITS OWN RESPONSES TO MAJOR EPIDEMICS

Creator : MANAGERS Vues : 162 vues Created : 3 months, 3 weeks

Faced with major global health crises, Africa is no longer merely a place of observation; it is becoming a strategic hub for scientific production. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, two leading figures in African biomedical research, Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Director General of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa, and Professor Jean Nachega, Director of the Biomedical Research Institute at Stellenbosch University, have embodied this new dynamic. Their scientific collaboration between Central and Southern Africa has established itself as one of the continent's most structuring partnerships in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.

By Professeurs Jean-Jacques Muyembe Et Jean Nachega.

Related Articles:

The COVID-19 documentary where data was lacking

From the very first months of the pandemic, when African data were largely absent from the global scientific literature, teams from INRB and Stellenbosch launched multicenter studies in sub-Saharan Africa. Their objective: to understand the real impact of COVID-19 in contexts marked by fragile health systems and a high prevalence of chronic diseases.

In Kinshasa, a pioneering study conducted between March and July 2020 on 766 patients hospitalized in seven major hospitals provided one of the first detailed clinical profiles of COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, this research showed that the dominant symptoms—cough, fever, and respiratory distress—were comparable to those observed elsewhere in the world. But it also highlighted major risk factors for severe illness and death: advanced age, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and kidney failure. A worrying sign also emerged: among hospitalized adolescents, although few in number, mortality was significant, revealing the vulnerability of young people in contexts where access to medical oxygen and intensive care remains limited.

Children and pregnant women : populations for a long time invisible

The joint work of Muyembe and Nachega quickly expanded to a continental scale. In a landmark study published in JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers analyzed data from 469 children and adolescents hospitalized in six African countries. The results were unequivocal: the rates of complications and mortality related to COVID-19 were significantly higher than in Europe or North America.

Another major study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, examined more than 1,300 pregnant women hospitalized in six sub-Saharan African countries. It demonstrated that pregnancy was a major risk factor for severe COVID-19 and death in Africa. This data played a key role in advocating for prioritizing vaccination for pregnant women and ensuring rapid access to specialized care across the continent.

From COVID-19 to Mpox: anticipating future crises

The collaboration between the two scientists did not end with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was strengthened in the face of another emerging threat: Mpox (formerly monkeypox). Co-founder and chairman of the steering committee of the Mpox Research Consortium (MpoxReC), Professor Jean Nachega works in close synergy with African teams, notably those at the INRB led by Professor Muyembe, as well as with Professor Placide Mbala and several renowned researchers.

In 2024, these efforts led to a major discovery: the identification of a new viral lineage (Clade Ib) in eastern DRC. Published in Nature Medicine, this data was quickly incorporated into the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa CDC, confirming the central role of African research in global health security. Active in the DRC, Cameroon, and Nigeria, the MpoxReC consortium is currently leading a three-year research project with a budget of approximately six million pounds sterling, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The aim is to strengthen genomic surveillance and deepen the clinical, immunological, and virological understanding of the Mpox virus.

Training the next generation African scientist

Convinced that the sustainable fight against epidemics requires investment in human capital, Professors Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Jean Nachega, Anne Rimoin (University of California, Los Angeles) and Nancy Sullivan (Boston University) co-direct an ambitious training program, supported by the NIH–Fogarty International Center.

With a budget of $1.15 million over five years, the D43 “Emerging and Re-Emerging Research Training Program in DRC” (EREP-RTP-DRC) is based at the INRB in Kinshasa. It will train 18 young Congolese researchers and technicians through degree programs, practical internships, and supervised research projects on diseases such as Ebola, MPOX, and other emerging infections.

Based on an innovative mentoring model, combining South-South and North-South approaches, this initiative aims to build a strong, autonomous and sustainable African scientific capacity - an essential pillar for public health in the Democratic Republic of Congo and for global health security.

0 likes

Commentaires : 0

Commentaires : (0)

No comments for the moment