In 2008, the “Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance” was launched by the Wellcome Trust, UK, and the Department of Biotechnology, India, with the aim to strengthen scientific capacity in India. To achieve this goal, the alliance has financed several projects. To evaluate the impact of these projects, an ‘Annual Fellow’s Meeting’ is organised in India each year, to allow fellows to present their research outcomes. This year, the meeting was held in Hiderabad from 18th to 20th May. More than 200 persons made up of scientists and policy makers participated at the 7th Annual Fellow’s Meeting including Dr Alphonsus Neba, Programme manager of DELTAS (a programme managed by the African Academy of Sciences and financed by the Wellcome Trust) and Dr Constant Ahoua, assistant of the coordination of Afrique One-ASPIRE, one of the eleven DELTAS consortia.

For the representative of Afrique One-ASPIRE, the main objectives were (i) to present his study to the audience, (ii) to get better understanding of the management rules and review processes at the India Alliance and (iii) to establish collaborations with institutions and researchers.

Collaboration between Afrique One-ASPIRE and the India alliance

The major interest of the Indian alliance are mental health, antibiotic resistance, environmental health and cancer. For a better management of diseases, it is necessary to have a good collaboration between disciplines and programmes for more effective drug design. This can be put into practice by exploring the different species, such as invertebrates, humans and primates. In his research, Dr Ahoua has already on made a first step. With the support of Afrique One-ASPIRE, he leads a study to assess the nutritional and cancer inhibition potentials of plants consumed by chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. Read more ► http://bit.ly/2qFDaPL  It was of great interest to the India Alliance, as his study outcomes may be used for drug development.

Prior to Dr Ahoua’s visit, Prof. Bassirou Bonfoh, Director Afrique One-ASPIRE attended a working group meeting on India-Africa health science collaboration, which was held in New Delhi, India from 5th to 7th April 2017. He discussed with other African and Indian scientists about the research agenda around human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases in the framework of the Indian-African partnership. Read more ► http://bit.ly/2sdROiU