News & Updates

March 2024 Edition, Issue 75

Welcome to another edition of the CARTA monthly updates. Read on to keep abreast with what is new.

Join the vibrant CARTA community today!

We are happy to introduce the CARTA community nested within the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) Community of Practice (CoP). The CARTA group provides a vibrant and dynamic platform for researchers of the CARTA fellowship and beyond, facilitators, partners, the research community, and individuals interested in African research and research capacity to engage, share insights, and explore the latest developments and innovations. 

As a valued member of the CARTA community, you are already part of a network dedicated to advancing research and research training capacity in Africa, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration and networking. We therefore invite to you to join the CARTA group and encourage you to extend your engagement to the APHRC CoP.

Appointment

Temitope Ilori (cohort 9, University of Ibadan) was appointed as the new Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) by President Bola Tinubu on March 14, 2024. The appointment was announced in a statement signed by President Tinubu’s media aide, Ajuri Ngelale. Temitope is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Community Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.

Kganetso Sekome (cohort 10, University of the Witwatersrand) was selected to participate in the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the flagship Program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

Enock Chisati (cohort 7, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences) was invited as a presenter in one of the State of the Art Symposium at the 7th International Olympic Committee (IOC) World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sports in Monaco from February 28 to March 2, 2024. He shared lessons and preliminary findings on the FIFA Football Nurse Project in Malawian Women’s football and how the lessons and results can shape Sports Injury Management in Low Resource Settings.

Aneth Kalinjuma (cohort 10, Ifakara Health Institute) delivered a poster presentation on the ‘Progress of HIV care cascade and transition dynamics along the continuum of care among HIV-positive patients in Ifakara, Tanzania: A prospective study’ at the 26th International Workshop on HIV and Hepatitis Observational Databases in Vilamoura, Portugal, from March 21 to 23, 2024.

Catherine Musyoka (cohort 7, University of Nairobi) delivered a presentation on ‘User-Centred mHealth App for Substance Use Prevention & Mental Health Literacy among Adolescents in Resource-Limited Settings in Kenya’ at the 15th Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) Annual Conference in Los Angeles Califonia USA, from March 7 to 10, 2024. She also received the CARTA Re-entry grant award for the project titled ‘Community-Based mHealth-Delivered Intervention to Provide On-Demand Alcohol and Other Drug Use Prevention and Improve Mental Health Literacy among Youths in Kenya’ from April 2024 to March 2025.

Makerere Unveils New Grants Management System

On March 13, 2024, Makerere University unveiled an online management system to monitor research grants and support principal investigators at the institution. The system, known as the Makerere University Grants Management System, is charged with tracing the allocation of funds, checking on what the resources are being used for, and facilitating performance or research implementation while ensuring that funds are properly utilized, among others.

APHRC Accelerating Gender Equality in Research and Development

APHRC takes gender equality seriously both in its internal operations and external initiatives. The organization ensures that everyone has equal access to opportunities and resources. During the 68th session of the UN CSW meeting, APHRC hosted an event where CARTA fellows highlighted the importance of gender-inclusive policies. 

Watch the full documentary featuring CARTA fellows Beryl Maritim, Julienne Murererehe, Macellina Ijadunola and Folusho Balogun, which offers a glimpse into their journeys and reflections on navigating the research landscape from a gender perspective here.

Funding: Climate and Health, One Health and Zoonosis

The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) invite health research applications in the focus areas of climate and health and one health and zoonosis that address emerging, re-emerging, and endemic zoonotic, vector-borne, and other diseases and antimicrobial resistance that are linked to climate change and the environment. Details

Deadline: April 17, 2024

Funding: South Africa-UK health research collaboration – non-communicable diseases

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) is pleased to announce an open call for proposals as part of a collaboration with the UKRI MRC under the umbrella of the UK’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). The call is for proposals on non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular and chronic lung diseases, and chronic liver disease (non-infectious aetiology), as well as mental health. Details

Deadline: April 12, 2024

Funding: Multimorbidity of infectious diseases and NCDs

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) is pleased to announce an open call for proposals as part of a collaboration with the UKRI MRC under the umbrella of the UK’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). This joint research program promotes collaboration between researchers in South Africa, the UK, and other African countries. The call is for proposals on target co-morbidity or multimorbidity of infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. Details

Deadline: April 15, 2024

Funding: Wellcome Early-Career Awards

The Wellcome scheme provides funding for early-career researchers from any discipline ready to develop their research identity. Through innovative projects, they will deliver shifts in understanding related to human life, health, and well-being. Details

Deadline: May 21, 2024

Workshop for Early Career Investigators in HIV

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research (OAR), along with the NIH institutes, centers, and offices (ICOs) with HIV research programs, invite you to attend the workshop for early career investigators in HIV on April 24, 2024. OAR looks forward to building on the enthusiasm and feedback from the first two early career investigator (ECI) workshops in 2022 and 2023. OAR’s goal is to continue to provide knowledge, resources, and mentoring to the next generation of HIV investigators. Register here

To be featured in the next CARTA Monthly, share with us your news and updates

via email to cartacomms@carta-demo.flywheelsites.com on or before April 25, 2024.

Submissions should include but are not limited to:

upcoming events, meetings, story ideas, new collaborations, new trials/updates, upcoming and published papers, policy briefs, community engagement activities, scholarships, what you are reading, if you won a grant, attending or about an upcoming conference, a call for applications/funding/papers, etc.