building capacity

Ongoing, long-term collaborations with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CVD-Baltimore are enabling CVD-Mali to build its capacity, to develop its laboratory and research capabilities, and to train more expert staff so that our institution can play a central role in healthcare research in the West African region.

CVD-Baltimore

From vaccine development, to qualitative research and, latterly, clinical community-based trials, CVD-Mali’s partnership with the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, has been a constant feature of our work over the past 20 or so years. 

As well as contributing to the scientific rigour of all our joint projects and studies, the partnership with CVD-Baltimore has enabled CVD-Mali to expand its capacity, and become a leading scientific institution in the wider West African region.

Having been enabled to develop our physical infrastructure, our laboratory, testing and cold storage facilities, and to benefit from the opportunities afforded by our partnership to expand and train our staff, and support their development as researchers, CVD-Mali is now a vital component in the national provision of healthcare research and services.

This continuing and invaluable support has allowed us to act as first responders in some of the region’s most trying health emergencies, notably the Ebola outbreak of 2014 as well as the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. 

the bill & melinda gates foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been a vital partner to CVD-Mali in recent years. Our organisations have worked together on a regular basis, and the partnership with the Foundation has also enabled CVD-Mali to significantly develop its capacity – training staff members, developing research capabilities, and allowing the institution to invest in equipment and infrastructure which will enable us to continue our collaborations into the future.  

CVD-Mali’s relationship with BMGF began in 2006 with the Hib vaccine trial, and the subsequent MenAfriVac in 2010. In 2018, CVD-Mali and BMGF collaborated to study Group B Streptococcus colonization in mothers and newborns. 

Our clinical community-based trials include GEMS trial (2007-10), Perch (2012-14) and the Vida trial (2015-18) to study the impact of vaccines on diarrhoea in Africa. 

More recently, CVD-Mali has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on two flagship azithromycin for child survival trials, Lakana and Santé.

We also collaborate with BMGF on two ongoing health surveillance programmes – the DSS (Demographic Surveillance System), and the Child Health and Mortality Prevention system (CHAMPS).