Funding and COVID-19 Research Priorities - Are the research needs for Africa being met?

Introduction

Emerging data from Africa indicates remarkably low numbers of reported COVID-19 deaths despite high levels of disease transmission. However evolution of these trends as the pandemic progresses remains unknown. More certain are the devastating long-term impacts of the pandemic on health and development evident globally. Research tailored to the unique needs of African countries is crucial.

UKCDR and GloPID-R have launched a tracker of funded COVID-19 projects mapped to the WHO research priorities and research priorities of Africa and less-resourced countries and published a baseline analysis of a Living Systematic Review (LSR) of these projects.

Methods

In-depth analyses of the baseline LSR for COVID-19 funded research projects in Africa (as of 15^thJuly 2020) to determine the funding landscape and alignment of the projects to research priorities of relevance to Africa.

Results

The limited COVID-19 related research across Africa appears to be supported mainly by international funding, especially from Europe, although with notably limited funding from United States-based funders. At the time of this analysis no research projects funded by an African-based funder were identified in the tracker although there are several active funding calls geared at research in Africa and there may be funding data which has not been made publicly available.

Many projects mapped to the WHO research priorities and 5 particular gaps in research funding were identified namely: investigating the role of children in COVID-19 transmission; effective modes of community engagement; health systems research; communication of uncertainties surrounding mother-to-child transmission of COVID-19; and identifying ways to promote international cooperation. Capacity strengthening was identified as a dominant theme in funded research project plans.

Conclusions

We found significantly lower funding investments in COVID-19 research in Africa compared to High-Income Countries, seven months into the pandemic, indicating a paucity of research targeting the research priorities of relevance to Africa.

Summary Box

What is already known?

• There has been a swift global research response to the COVID-19 pandemic guided by priorities outlined in the WHO Research Roadmap and hundreds of research activities have rapidly been commissioned.

• The research priorities for Africa are likely to be influenced by unique contextual factors which could worsen the prognosis of infections and influence measures for disease prevention and control and indirect long-term disease impacts.

• Remarkably, there has been a low number of reported COVID-19 mortalities despite emerging evidence of high levels of transmission in Africa.

What are the new findings?

• We present the most comprehensive assessment of COVID-19 research investments in Africa seven months into this pandemic and found significantly less research investments in Africa, given that only 84 out of 1858 research projects identified globally involved at least one African country.

• Several important gaps in funded research in Africa were identified indicating some areas requiring greater research focus.

• The dominant capacity strengthening theme in funded research projects highlights insufficient pandemic research preparedness of African countries.

What do the new findings imply?

• An assessment of the alignment of funded research projects in Africa to important global and regional research priorities is imperative for gaining key insights into the trends of disease, guiding research funding investments, prevention and control strategies and learning lessons for future pandemics.

• In this context of limited resources, investments in research in Africa must be targeted at the most pressing research needs for effective control of this pandemic.