The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with a plan to invest $130 million over five years to transform African medical education and dramatically increase the number of health care workers.
Through the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI), grants are being awarded directly to African institutions in a dozen countries, working in partnership with U.S. medical schools and universities. The initiative will form a network including about 30 regional partners, country health and education ministries, and more than 20 U.S. collaborators.
The program is designed to support PEPFAR's goals to train and retain 140,000 new health care workers and improve the capacity of partner countries to deliver primary health care.
"We must dramatically transform African medical education to increase the number of qualified care providers available and develop the scientific expertise needed for research and innovation," said Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at the Department of State. "By engaging country health and education ministries, MEPI will strengthen national plans to improve medical instruction and bolster the overall health care delivery systems. As we transition PEPFAR-supported HIV efforts from an emergency response to a more sustainable effort, we need to develop the expertise necessary for evidence-based decision making on the local level. This expertise will empower countries to lead health programs and fulfill their responsibility for the health of their people."
Several components of the National Institutes of Health joined PEPFAR in funding the initiative, which will be administered by Fogarty International Center of the NIH and the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Eleven programmatic awards, largely funded by PEPFAR, will expand and enhance medical education and research training in the field of HIV/AIDS. Eight smaller non-HIV/AIDS awards, funded by the NIH Director's Common Fund, with additional support from several NIH institutes, will encourage the development of expertise in topics such as maternal and child health, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, mental health, surgery and emergency medicine. Over a five-year period, MEPI intends to provide up to $10 million for each programmatic award, up to $2.5 million for each linked project and up to $1.25 million for each pilot grant.
"Non-communicable diseases, such as maternal-child health issues, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental illness, represent the fastest growing causes of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "We at NIH are delighted to join hands with our colleagues in PEPFAR to help build research and clinical capacity in these important areas of human health."
A coordinating center is being established to link the African sites and their U.S. partners, leverage shared resources and provide technical expertise. A Web-based platform will be developed to allow all partners to share data and outcomes. The platform will facilitate evaluation and provide a gateway to maximize the initiative's global impact. MEPI will enable participating institutions to strengthen their information technology infrastructure, support distance education and data sharing, and encourage the establishment of clinical registries to inform research and health care decision making on national levels. The coordinating center will also form an African leadership network to guide and advocate for the initiative.
"HRSA's decades of experience working in HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program have highlighted the critical need for enhanced medical education and training to provide quality care to people affected by HIV/AIDS in rural and underserved communities. We are proud to collaborate with PEPFAR and NIH to advance medical education in Africa through this initiative, as well as continue supporting the on-going care and treatment and health system strengthening activities," said Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N., HRSA administrator.
NIH funding is being provided by the Common Fund, Office of AIDS Research, Office of Research on Women's Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and National Institute of Nursing Research.
Here is the complete list of MEPI awards and collaborating partners:
Programmatic Awards:
Botswana: University of Botswana, in partnership with Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania
- Programmatic Award: Creating Sustainable Medical Education and Health Research Capacity in Botswana
Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University, in partnership with a consortium of Ethiopian medical schools including Hawassa University, Haremaya Universities and the Defense Forces Medical Colleges, as well as Emory University; Johns Hopkins University; the University of California, San Diego and the University of Wisconsin.
- Programmatic Award: Ethiopia's Medical Education Consortium for Quality Medical Education & Retention
Kenya: University of Nairobi, in partnership with the University of Maryland-Baltimore and the University of Washington
- Programmatic Award: Strengthening Medical Education for Improved Health Outcomes in Kenya
- Linked Award: Strengthening Maternal, Newborn & Child Health Research Training in Kenya
Mozambique: Universidade de Eduardo Mondlane, in partnership University of California – San Diego, Universidade Lurio, Universidade Zambeze, the World Health Organization, the Canadian Network for International Surgery and the American College of Surgeons
- Programmatic Award: The Universidade Eduardo Mondlane/ UCSD Medical Education Partnership
- Linked Award: UEM-UC-SD Surgery Partnership
Nigeria: University of Ibadan, in partnership with University of Jos, University of Nigeria, University of Maiduguri, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos, the AIDS Prevention Initiative Nigeria Ltd., Northwestern University and the Harvard School of Public Health
- Programmatic Award: Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN)
South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal, in partnership with Columbia University
- Programmatic Award: Enhancing Training, Research Capacity and Expertise in HIV Care (ENTRÉE)
South Africa: Stellenbosch University, in partnership with the University of Cape Town Lung Institute, Makerere University and Johns Hopkins University
- Programmatic Award: Stellenbosch University Rural Medical Education Partnership
Tanzania: Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, in partnership with Duke University School of Medicine
- Programmatic Award: KCMC-Duke Medical Education Partnership Initiative
Uganda: Makerere University, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, Mbarara University, Kampala International University, Case Western Reserve University, Yale University, Medical Research Council and Uganda Martyrs College
- Programmatic Award: Medical Education for Services to All Ugandans
- Linked Award: Building Capacity for Cardiovascular Research and Training in Uganda
Zambia: University of Zambia, in partnership with Vanderbilt University and University of Alabama-Birmingham
- Programmatic Award: Expanding Innovative Multidisciplinary Medical Education in Zambia
- Linked Award: Improving Maternal and Child Health Through Specialty Training in Zambia
Zimbabwe: University of Zimbabwe, in partnership with the University of Colorado-Denver and Stanford University, the University of Cape Town, University College-London, and King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry
- Programmatic Award: Novel Education Clinical Trainees and Researchers (NECTAR) Program
- Linked Award: Improved Mental Health Education and Research Capacity in Zimbabwe Program
- Linked Award: Cerebrovascular, Heart Failure, Rheumatic Heart Disease Interventions Strategy Initiative
Pilot Grants:
Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partnership with University of Michigan, University of Ghana, Ghana Ministry of Health, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, University of Development Studies, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Ghana Ambulance Service
- Ghana Emergency Medicine Collaborative Training Program
Malawi: Malawi College of Medicine, in partnership with University of North Carolina, University of Cape Town and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
- HIV-associated Malignancies in Malawi
Coordinating Center: George Washington University, in partnership with the African Center for Global Health and Social Transformation in Kampala, Uganda
- Fostering African Medical Education: Community of Excellence
The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the U.S. Government initiative to support partner nations around the world in responding to HIV/AIDS. It was launched in 2003, and is the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease internationally in history. PEPFAR is the cornerstone of the President's Global Health Initiative, which supports partner countries in improving health outcomes through strengthened health systems. For more information, please visit www.PEPFAR.gov, http://twitter.com/uspepfar, or www.facebook.com/PEPFAR.
The NIH Common Fund encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high impact, trans-NIH programs. These new programs are funded through the Common Fund, and managed by the NIH Office of the Director in partnership with the various NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices. Common Fund programs are designed to pursue major opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single NIH Institute could tackle alone, but that the agency as a whole can address to make the biggest impact possible on the progress of medical research. Additional information about the NIH Common Fund can be found at http://commonfund.nih.gov.
Fogarty, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships. For more information, visit: www.fic.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is the primary Federal agency for improving access to quality healthcare services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable in the United States and its territories. HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau administers one of the largest federally funded domestic HIV/AIDS programs, providing primary care, medications and services to more than one-half million people every year. The HIV/AIDS Bureau also oversees the agency's global projects, which build human and institutional capacity for scaling up HIV treatment and care through rapid roll-out of ARVs and clinical services, training and technical assistance, nursing leadership development, and promotion of the continuum of palliative care. For more information on HRSA's programs, visit www.hrsa.gov