Since its inception in 2014, the trust has disbursed R3m in grants. The funding is for local high-level non-interventional studies, including doctoral and post-doctoral work. Although in the past, the trust has made no attempt to limit the research areas, this year for the first time, a stipulation has been included and research must be geared towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
According to the World Health Organisation, NCDs kill more than 38m people each year. By far the leading cause of death in the world, 28m of all NCD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. It’s therefore accurate to say that Africa is sitting on a NCD time bomb and the need for research that will generate significant data currently not available, has never been greater.
NCDs are generally slow to progress and fall into four main areas, including cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and stroke, which at 17,5m deaths annually account for the most NCD deaths. This is followed by cancers (8,2m), chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma (4m) and diabetes (1,5m).
The continent is ill equipped to fight these modern day illnesses and does not have the empirical data to properly manage and treat these potentially life-threatening diseases which are becoming increasingly prevalent and are the curse of Africa.
Further complicating this, the pharmaceutical industry has not traditionally invested in this area of research with funding customarily being allocated to compound and chemical entity developments. With extensive investment into research on HIV infection and TB, there has been little investment and focus on non-communicable diseases.
It is for these reasons the trust is encouraging the generation of this much needed epidemiological data on non-communicable and other diseases - for without current, accurate data, the extent of the problem cannot be ascertained.
Submissions for grant funding must be made by the 22 November 2016 deadline. All applicants should submit a letter of intent (LOI) however preference will be given to masters, PhD and post-doctorates. Successful applicants will be contacted in January 2017, whereby the full proposal will be requested for submission.
Full study proposals must be submitted by 15 February 2017. A six- to eight-week review period will be allocated for the scientific steering committee to make the necessary decisions with a grant awards ceremony scheduled for May next year.
AstraZeneca believes its grants will help meet a huge area of unmet need on the continent, ensuring the reprioritisation of healthcare initiatives and helping bring specific solutions to unique environments.
