COR NTD | World NTD Day: Act Now, Act Together - Investing in Young African Researchers
Even though Africa represents more than half of the burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), African institutions have played a limited role in research and advocacy to eliminate NTDs, in part due to the lack of opportunities for young scientists to lead research.
To mitigate this scarcity of opportunities, the African Researchers' Small Grants Program, funded through Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) by UK aid and the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by the African Researcher’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Network (ARNTD), was launched in 2017 to fund individual researchers based on the African continent. From 2017-2021, the Small Grant Program recipients received financial support from USAID through its Neglected Tropical Diseases Program and UK aid from the UK government through their support of the COR-NTD grant. Starting in 2022, the support for the Small Grants Program has been made possible by USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, still via the COR-NTD grant.
Within the past five years, the African Researchers’ Small Grants Program has provided more than $1.5 million in research funds to more than 65 researchers from 16 countries.
Join COR NTD and ARNTD this World NTD Day in celebrating the first five years of the Small Grants Program and the accomplishments of young African scientists. Grant recipients will discuss their research as well as their journey to help eliminate NTDs. Participants will have the opportunity to ask the researchers about their research as well as their personal stories. Additionally, ARNTD will share what the future holds for the program in 2023.