PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Brian Greenwood
AU  - Oumar Gaye
AU  - Moses R Kamya
AU  - Gibson Kibiki
AU  - Victor Mwapasa
AU  - Kamija S Phiri
AU  - Harry Tagbor
AU  - Dianne Terlouw
AU  - Imelda Bates
AU  - Alister Craig
AU  - Pascal Magnussen
AU  - Thor G Theander
AU  - Amit Bhasin
AU  - Hazel McCullough
AU  - David Schellenberg
TI  - Supporting capacity for research on malaria in Africa
AID  - 10.1136/bmjgh-2018-000723
DP  - 2018 Apr 01
TA  - BMJ Global Health
PG  - e000723
VI  - 3
IP  - 2
4099  - http://gh.bmj.com/content/3/2/e000723.short
4100  - http://gh.bmj.com/content/3/2/e000723.full
AB  - Substantial progress has been made in the control of malaria in Africa but much remains to be done before malaria elimination on the continent can be achieved. Further progress can be made by enhancing uptake of existing control tools but, in high transmission areas, additional tools will be needed. Development and evaluation of these new tools will require a substantial cadre of African scientists well trained in many different disciplines. This paper describes the activities undertaken by the Malaria Capacity Development Consortium (MCDC) to support the careers of PhD students and postdoctoral fellows undertaking research on malaria at five African universities. A systematic assessment of constraints on PhD training and research support systems was undertaken at each partner African university at the beginning of the programme and many of these constraints were remedied. The success of the programme is shown by the fact that 18 of the 21 PhD students recruited to the programme completed their theses successfully within a 4-year period and that all 27 scientists recruited to the postdoctoral programme were still working in Africa on its completion. The work of the consortium will be continued through Career Development Groups established at each partner university and at an affiliated institution at the University of Nairobi and through the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science award from the Wellcome Trust made to one of the African partners. Lessons learnt during the MCDC programme may help the planning and execution of other research capacity development programmes in Africa.