5th Cohort | COR-NTD & ARNTD Small Grants winners announced

10 Feb 2022

The Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Disease (COR-NTD) and the African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ARNTD) are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 African Researchers’ Small Grants Program. Sixteen researchers (10 males and 6 females) from eight African countries have been selected as the fifth cohort of the Program (SGP V). The ARNTD, which manages the Small Grants Program, received 372 applications for SGP V, 38 of which made it to the final round for consideration. Congratulations to the recipients.

According to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, the African continent has 40 percent of the burden of NTDs worldwide. "Involvement of African entities in science, research and advocacy has been rather limited due to a scarcity of research experts, policy makers and implementers in the region,” said John Amuasi, Executive Director of the African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ARNTD). “The African Researchers' Small Grants Program aims to address that gap by investing directly in promising scientists in Africa.”

Funded by UKAid and USAID, 8 of the 16 awardees will conduct research on schistosomiasis:

  • Abdallah Zacharia - Development and validation of dried urine spot method for detection of Schistosoma circulating antigens from a resource limited archetype in Tanzania
  • Pearl Ugochi Ofoegbu - Environmental DNA (eDNA) as a tool for detecting schistosome snail hosts in Nigeria and possible impacts of environmental factors
  • Derrick Bary Abila - Barriers and facilitators of the integrating female genital schistosomiasis screening using digital colposcopy in reproductive health clinics in a schistosomiasis endemic area of Eastern Uganda
  • Akua Obeng Forson - Challenges and opportunities in achieving sustainable coverage of mass drug administration towards the control and elimination of soil transmitted helminths and Schistosomiasis in hard to reach communities of Ghana
  • Hammed Oladeji Mogaji - Impact of COVID-19 on mass drug administration campaigns targeting schistosomiasis and STH: A post-lockdown evaluation of coverage, non-compliance and health workers motivation in some hard-to-reach communities in Southwest Nigeria
  • Sylvie Kwedi Nolna - A collaboration model between the national NTD control programs and traditional healers to detect additional cases of lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis in Cameroon
  • Noel Namuhani - Use of Community Health clubs to deliver interventions for prevention and control of schistosomiasis among fishing communities in Mayuge district, Eastern Uganda
  • Gladys Charles Mbwanji - Assessing the utility of female genital schistosomiasis symptoms and risk factors checklist and efficacy of praziquantel on genital lesions associated with urogenital schistosomiasis in adolescent girls and women in Maswa District

We would like to congratulate all the awardees of the fifth cohort of the Program.

Research COR NTD Female Genital Schistosomiasis