• Posted 14-Apr-2020

EU and Africa step up research cooperation to combat coronavirus outbreak

The European Union is stepping up its research and innovation cooperation with Africa in order to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is launching calls for expressions of interest to support research on the coronavirus and strengthen research capacities in sub-Saharan Africa. Three calls in total will be funded with up to €28 million from Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme.

The first call, with a budget of €2.25 million from Horizon 2020, with additional €1.5 million from Sweden and €1.0 from France has been launched on 3 April. It will fund research into coronavirus pandemic preparedness in sub-Saharan Africa, to develop point-of-care diagnostics and validate existing tests. They will also support clinical management by running controlled trials for diagnostics and therapeutics of promising agents.

EDCTP brings together the European Union, 16 African and 14 European countries to fund research to combat infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. It is fully embedded in the EU-Africa High-Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation, which develops joint long-term research and innovation priorities.

On 10 April, the partnership will launch two more calls to strengthen research capacities in sub-Saharan Africa. They will focus on infectious diseases affecting sub-Saharan Africa, including on the coronavirus.

• €18 million for Coordination and Support Actions to strengthen EDCTP’s Regional Networks, more specifically their clinical research capacity to conduct multi-country clinical trials. This should also consolidate South-South and North-South collaborations between researchers and institutions; encouraging networking to maximise the impact of clinical research in Africa.
• €5 million to build for capacity development for disease outbreak and epidemic response in sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), namely by establishing an African cohort of epidemiologists through training in institutions in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.

This means the total amount of funding in the three new EDCTP calls from Horizon 2020 will reach up to €28 million. The Horizon 2020 investment delivers on the commitment to step up scientific cooperation between the EU and the African Union, set out in the Commission’s comprehensive Africa Strategy adopted on 9 March.

Support via EDCTP complements the ongoing major EU research and innovation effort to fight the virus. The Commission has moved quickly to mobilise public and private funding for urgently needed research and innovation working on diagnostics, treatments and vaccines. Strengthened global cooperation is an important part of the EU effort. This also includes the coordination of international initiatives under the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Diseases Preparedness (GloPID-R), and the contribution (€20 million so far) to the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI). This support to research and innovation is part of the common European response to the outbreak.

Source: European Commission Research and Innovation News (https://bit.ly/2V47Kom)