Local Research Capacity Research Articles

SP1-101 A model of international multi-site collaboration for chronic disease research in developing countries

The impact of chronic diseases continues escalating among populations in developing countries. In an effort to combat chronic cardiovascular and lung diseases globally, NHLBI and the United Health Chronic Disease...

Building capacity for public and population health research in Africa: the consortium for advanced research training in Africa (CARTA) model

Background: Globally, sub-Saharan Africa bears the greatest burden of disease. Strengthened research capacity to understand the social determinants of health among different African populations is key to addressing the drivers of poor health and developing interventions to improve health outcomes and health systems in the region. Yet, the continent clearly lacks centers of research excellence that can generate a strong evidence base to address the region's socio-economic and health problems.Objective and program overview: We describe the recently launched Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), which brings together a network of nine academic and four research institutions from West, East, Central, and Southern Africa, and select northern universities and training institutes. CARTA's program of activities comprises two primary, interrelated, and mutually reinforcing objectives: to strengthen research infrastructure and capacity at African universities; and to support doctoral training through the creation of a collaborative doctoral training program in population and public health. The ultimate goal of CARTA is to build local research capacity to understand the determinants of population health and effectively intervene to improve health outcomes and health systems.Conclusions: CARTA's focus on the local production of networked and high-skilled researchers committed to working in sub-Saharan Africa, and on the concomitant increase in local research and training capacity of African universities and research institutes addresses the inability of existing programs to create a critical mass of well-trained and networked researchers across the continent. The initiative's goal of strengthening human resources and university-wide systems critical to the success and sustainability of research productivity in public and population health will rejuvenate institutional teaching, research, and administrative systems.

Improving public health training and research capacity in Africa: a replicable model for linking training to health and socio-demographic surveillance data

Background: Research training for public health professionals is key to the future of public health and policy in Africa. A growing number of schools of public health are connected to health and socio-demographic surveillance system field sites in developing countries, in Africa and Asia in particular. Linking training programs with these sites provides important opportunities to improve training, build local research capacity, foreground local health priorities, and increase the relevance of research to local health policy.Objective: To increase research training capacity in public health programs by providing targeted training to students and increasing the accessibility of existing data.Design: This report is a case study of an approach to linking public health research and training at the University of the Witwatersrand. We discuss the development of a sample training database from the Agincourt Health and Socio-demographic Surveillance System in South Africa and outline a concordant transnational intensive short course on longitudinal data analysis offered by the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Colorado-Boulder. This case study highlights ways common barriers to linking research and training can be overcome.Results and Conclusions: This collaborative effort demonstrates that linking training to ongoing data collection can improve student research, accelerate student training, and connect students to an international network of scholars. Importantly, the approach can be adapted to other partnerships between schools of public health and longitudinal research sites.

Consumer involvement in research using oral history: ‘What are people's experiences of health and well‐being in Halton?’

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative oral history case study that involved consumers in research and followed a collaborative approach in the north‐west of England. This study had two aims: (1) to increase local voluntary groups research capacity through active involvement in research; and (2) to explore the community's historical perceptions of health and well‐being. The research team included four lay researchers from local voluntary groups supported by an academic researcher. Data collection used semi‐structured interviews based on oral history life stories that focused on health and well‐being. Thematic data analysis and mind maps were used to create a collective narrative. This paper will provide a brief synopsis of the findings from the main themes of health and well‐being, and reflect on the process of consumer involvement in research using oral history. Outputs have included dissemination at a local and national level, increased knowledge and confidence in the research process, and involvement in other related initiatives, such as Local Involvement Networks, partnership working with local libraries and collaboration with the regional archivist.

Taking the Rules of the Game Seriously: Mainstreaming Justice in Development the World Bank’s Justice for the Poor Program

This paper explains the ideas and approaches that underpin the World Bank's Justice for the Poor (J4P) program. J4P is an approach to legal empowerment that focuses on mainstreaming sociolegal concerns into development processes, in sectors ranging from community-driven development and mining technical assistance to labor-rights advocacy and classic judicial reform. It has developed out of a perspective that legal and regulatory frameworks and related justice concerns cannot be conceived of in terms of a 'sector' or a specific set of institutions, but are integral to all development processes. Further, while there is broad agreement that justice reform and building an equitable justice sector is central to good governance and sustainable development, there is limited understanding of how equitable justice systems emerge and how such processes can be facilitated by external actors. J4P addresses these knowledge gaps with intensive research aimed at understanding the ways in which development processes shape and are shaped by local context, and in particular, how the poor engage with and/or are excluded from the multiple rule systems ('legal pluralism') governing their everyday lives. Through three case studies of the program's work, this paper illustrates how understanding the various roles of law in society provides an innovative means of analyzing and responding to particular development problems. The cases also demonstrate the principles that underpin J4P: development is inherently conflict-ridden; institutional reform should be seen as an iterative and thus 'interim' process; building local research capacity is critical to establishing an empirically based and context-driven reform process; integrating diverse sources of empirical evidence is needed to deeply engage in local contexts; and rule systems are ubiquitous in all areas of development, not just the 'legal sector.'

Improving African health research capacity

The issue of strengthening local research capacity in Africa is again high on the health and development agenda. The latest initiative comes from the Wellcome Trust. But when it comes to capacity development, one of the chief obstacles that health sectors in the region must confront is the migration of health professionals to countries that offer more lucrative opportunities, like those in western Europe. To combat this ''brain drain'', already back in 1984, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) created a training programme in which healthcare professionals from Africa conducted the bulk of their research in their own countries. However, the model was only partly successful. Several years ago, we assessed the preconditions for the renewal of Sida support for research and research training activities in the region. Based on our work to develop a critical mass of beneficial research capacity in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, this article suggests several recommendations to both donors and governments that have broad application for general health research issues in the region.

Informed consent for clinical trials: a review

To identify and highlight challenges related to informed consent process for clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa. Published original research findings and reviews in the English literature, together with anecdotal information from our current professional experiences with clinical trials. Review of peer-reviewed articles. Online searches were done and requests for reprints from corresponding authors and institutional subscription. Information categorised accordingly. Informed consent for clinical trials conducted in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is not always "truly informed" or "truly voluntary". Guidelines for obtaining informed consent are often difficult to implement because of low literacy levels, socio-economic and cultural factors. The local ethics committees, whose role is critical in informed consent, are weak, ill-equipped or non-existent in some countries. Many participants may have incomplete understanding of the various aspects of the clinical trials due to language barriers, the way information is disclosed or terms used for informed consent documents. In some settings, clinical trials are the only access to health care services for the local population. Further, participants may enroll with perceived notion of cure of their conditions, for monetary or material benefits. There is need for national guidelines on clinical research including ethics review, compensation of subjects, requirements for research investigators, facilities and ethics committees as well as budgetary allocation. These guidelines must not only address specific and unique local circumstances but also meet minimum international clinical research standards. Local bioethics and research capacity should be developed and strengthened with research sponsors contributing towards this. Local research is needed on the validity and reliability of informed consent for clinical trials and factors influencing that in different socio-cultural settings in SSA.

Research needs for an improved primary care response to chronic non‐communicable diseases in Africa

With non-communicable diseases (NCDs) projected to become leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, research is needed to improve the primary care response, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This region has a particularly high double burden of communicable diseases and NCDs and the least resources for an effective response. There is a lack of good quality epidemiological data from diverse settings on chronic NCD burden in sub-Saharan Africa, and the approach to primary care of people with chronic NCDs is currently often unstructured. The main primary care research needs are therefore firstly, epidemiological research to document the burden of chronic NCDs, and secondly, health system research to deliver the structured, programmatic, public health approach that has been proposed for the primary care of people with chronic NCDs. Documentation of the burden and trends of chronic NCDs and associated risk factors in different settings and different population groups is needed to enable health system planning for an improved primary care response. Key research issues in implementing the programmatic framework for an improved primary care response are how to (i) integrate screening and prevention within health delivery; (ii) validate the use of standard diagnostic protocols for NCD case-finding among patients presenting to the local health facilities; (iii) improve the procurement and provision of standardised treatment and (iv) develop and implement a data collection system for standardised monitoring and evaluation of patient outcomes. Important research considerations include the following: selection of research sites and the particular NCDs targeted; research methodology; local research capacity; research collaborations; ethical issues; translating research findings into policy and practice and funding. Meeting the research needs for an improved health system response is crucial to deliver effective, affordable and equitable care for the millions of people with chronic NCDs in developing countries in Africa.

Scaling up Agroecological Approaches for Food Sovereignty in Latin America

As the expansion of agroexports and biofuels continues unfolding in Latin America, the concepts of food sovereignty and agroecologically based production systems gain increasing attention. Miguel A. Altieri and Clara I. Nicholls suggest that the key importance will be the involvement of farmers directly in the formulation of the research agenda and on their active participation in the process of technological innovation and dissemination through models that focus on sharing experiences, strengthening local research and problem-solving capacities.

A golden age for malaria research and innovation

The Roll Back Malaria partnership – a consortium of donor and malaria-endemic countries, researchers, policy-makers and private sector enterprises – has helped change the global perspective on malaria. Today, malaria is high on the development agenda, financial resources for countries have increased, more and more success stories in countries are being documented and there is renewed hope that the disease can be beaten. Today, there is new momentum. In September 2008, the member organizations of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership unveiled the Global Malaria Action Plan [1], which, if fully implemented, could save 4.2 million lives by 2015 ...and more beyond. The Plan is the first single comprehensive blueprint for global malaria control and elimination. It charts the way forward to scale up malaria control in the short term, then eliminate and, eventually, eradicate malaria in the future. It is built on consensus between all partners and it is built on strategies that work. The Plan promotes the use of insecticide-treated nets (particularly those lasting between three to five years) indoor spraying with insecticides, preventive treatment for pregnant women and access to effective treatment – that is, artemisinin-based combination therapy or ACT. Global in scope, the Plan includes regional approaches, which reach all endemic countries in the world, and it focuses on all species of malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax). For the first time, all stakeholders fighting malaria have at their disposal a single plan agreed by all. But this plan is also a bridge – between good intentions and real action, and between commitments and the delivery and use of interventions in families and villages suffering needlessly from malaria. The Global Malaria Action Plan tells us exactly, region-by-region and year-by-year, what is required and what it will cost. Despite the efficacy of today's tools, achieving near-term goals of reducing incidence and reducing mortality, as well as the longer-term goals of elimination and eradication, will require new and improved tools that are effective across a variety of settings and populations. Strategies for scaling up, and sustaining control and elimination cannot be discussed without acknowledging the crucial role that research plays in enabling these strategies' success. Lessons learned from the field will feed back into the R&D process, thus informing new research directions. We will also need to generate knowledge to inform policy decisions and improve the use and effectiveness of current and new interventions. The malaria research agenda carries a price tag: USD 750–900 million a year over the next decade for new tools alone. Yet, without this expense malaria cannot be beaten. If there ever was a golden age for malaria research and innovation, it is now. Research institutions, public private partnership and joint ventures, have been at the forefront of recent research advances against malaria including vaccine and drug development, supporting local research capacity in Africa and improving delivery of interventions. Such milestones in scientific and operational research are setting the stage for increased investment in innovative malaria initiatives. At the recent launch of the Global Malaria Action Plan in New York on 25 Sept 2008, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged USD 168 million to continued vaccine development and expanding the vaccine R&D pipeline with projects ranging from early-stage laboratory research to advanced clinical testing. Armed with the Plan's globally agreed research agenda, partners and advocates can now bring more investment to malaria research and foster further dialogue and innovation. The Global Plan requires a long-term commitment: continued funding is essential in both country implementation and R&D to prevent a re-emergence of malaria. However, the investment is worthwhile. Malaria control is cost effective, saving more lives per dollar spent than interventions for most other diseases. R&D investment today in new and improved interventions can help countries eliminate malaria faster and reduce the need for longer-term R&D costs. I would like to congratulate the authors of this supplement 'The Scientific Basis of Research for Global Malaria Control' for their comprehensive examination of critical areas that need to be tackled if we are to progress swiftly towards malaria elimination and eventual eradication. From vaccine development, integrated vector control, treatment, confronting economic and financing issues to climate change; these are the very real challenges of today – but, with more investment in research – the accomplishments of tomorrow.

The advancement of educational research in small states

This paper critically examines the impact of global development agendas upon the nature and direction of educational development in small states. This generates a critique of the international transfer of western identifies the policy trajectories and related research modalities, strategic importance of small states, and explores possible ways forward for the future support and advancement of educational research in such contexts. In doing so, priority attention is given to the potential of collaborative research initiatives, and to strategies for supporting and strengthening local research capacity.

Performance, priorities, and future of biomedical research publications in Africa: Need for networks between scientists in developed and developing countries.

Scientific publications play an important role in the scientific process providing a key linkage between knowledge production and use [1]. Africa’s health challenges and research needs have been well documented for many years now. Scientific publishing activity worldwide over the past decades shows that most countries in Africa have low levels of publication [1–10]. In the 1990s, the term “the 10/90” gap was coined to express the acute global imbalance whereby developing countries experienced 90 per cent of the world’s major health problems, but received only 10 per cent of its resources for health research [11–13]. The difficulties in research, publication, editorial bias, and information access facing Africa are profound and seem almost intractable [1, 14]. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet in his excellent discussion of this issue has highlighted some of the barriers to information exchange between North and South [14]. Lack of funding, poor laboratory, limited technical support, little available training, few tutors or mentors, no career structure, weak peer networks, diffuse relation between research and academic reward, and research biased to Northern interests are important factors affecting research production from Africa. The low proportions of published articles from authors from Africa have been reported in many research fields [1–10], and may be due to fear of rejection, uncertain about journal options, and no culture of publication to draw on. In addition, serious under-representation of editorial and advisory board members from countries with a low human development index in medical journals has been documented recently [15–17]. This editorial bias may be due to low interest in less-developed countries and reviews fail to take account of local research conditions. Another difficulty facing African researcher is dissemination of findings to other parts of the world. Most of the information published in African journals are largely not included in major databases. Access to technological tools, information access, and other equipment and supplies to ease the work is not always possible. Researchers in Africa are poorly paid [18, 19]. Many have to work in private practice to make ends meet. Many research units in Africa are struggling to cope with a “brain drain” of basic scientist and clinical researchers to developed countries which offer more opportunities and greater political and financial securities [20–23]. There is an urgent need to strengthen local research capacity in Africa, to tackle compelling questions about health and disease vital to enhancing people’s health, lives and livelihoods. More support should be provided by developed countries to Africa, for the advancement of local research efforts. This support should aim to improve the infrastructure of research in Africa. In addition, there is a need for Africa countries to develop and sustain research capacity by attracting, developing and retaining excellent scientists, providing and sustaining the infrastructure and equipment that high-quality research needs; developing strong research institutions with effective leadership, governance and management systems; sustaining a balanced research portfolio in the Africa and partner countries. Researchers from Africa should work effectively through partnerships internationally, nationally; regionally and locally to ensure that research agenda is relevant to Africa’s need and deliverable. There is a need for schemes to promote research as a viable career option and by giving more research awards and supplementing researchers’ salaries. This can be inform of non-bond research grants to PhD students studies in local universities that are have a good links to reputable institutions in the North. Researchers from Africa should join national, regional, and global networks. Developing computerized knowledge management systems to more accurately track research output including grey literature may help eliminate intellectual isolation. Health research priorities in Africa have often been determined by funders, institutions or individuals, rather than by means of a truly participatory and rational process. There is a need to strengthen the “African Voice” in determining the priorities for future health research. On a final note, I believe like others, that adopting a philosophy of friends-helping-friends and intellectual solidarity will help promotes a commitment to research to equity in health development in Africa.

Establishing Pediatric Cardiovascular Services in the Developing World

There is increasing realization that the lack of facilities for sustainable pediatric cardiac services in the developing world results in a massive number of preventable deaths and suffering. It is estimated that 15 million children die or are crippled annually by potentially treatable or preventable cardiac diseases. Ignored for a long time, this issue is starting to be a cause of major concern to individuals, governments, and, most importantly, cardiovascular specialists who can appreciate the gravity of the problem and that the current situation is unacceptable. What then can be done to alleviate the problem, by whom, and how? In this issue of Circulation , Larrazabal et al describe the pioneering efforts of Castenada and his colleagues in Guatemala.1 This should act as a model and a source of inspiration in this field. This editorial is an attempt to outline some of the issues that relate to the problem, such as estimates of its size, and explores potential, long-lasting solutions. Article p 1882 The pediatric population constitutes a larger proportion of the community in developing countries, with ≈40% of individuals <18 years old in some countries. Children in developing countries have a significantly higher incidence and prevalence of serious cardiac diseases.2 This is contributed to by a variety of factors that include a lack of early correction of congenital cardiac abnormalities that results in accumulation of a large number of children with uncorrected anomalies who survive the neonatal period. In addition, many of these children develop more rapid deterioration in their clinical condition as a result of accelerated forms of secondary changes in the heart and other organs, such as pulmonary hypertension. Some of these changes could be the result of genetic and/or environmental factors such as pollution or infection. Furthermore, endemic “neglected” cardiac diseases such as rheumatic …

Developing locally based research capacity in Uganda

To describe an educational project to enhance local research capacity within Hospice Africa Uganda, a Uganda-wide community-based palliative care organization. This project emerged from a British Council Higher Education Links Scheme involving stakeholder British and Ugandan higher education institutions. The paper describes the project in relation to the remit of the British Council, the Ugandan context and the specifics of this exploratory project. The aim of the project was to build on the pre-existing local research capacity. The lessons learnt and the participatory approach adopted for meeting the challenges of teaching/learning that emerged from this project are described in relation to the local interprofessional, organizational, socio-economic and socio-cultural contexts. Local knowledge gained through participatory engagement and collaborative working within Uganda is relevant and useful for current and future UK-Ugandan higher education partnerships.

How to get research into practice: first get practice into research

Discovering ways to increase access to and delivery of interventions is a major challenge. Typically research is divorced from implementation, which has led to a growing literature about how to get research into practice. However, operational research is best prioritized, designed, implemented and replicated from within national programmes. The current model for most international health service research is based on the assumption that the research community “discovers” solutions and then tries to market them to busy decision-makers and practitioners. The problem of failing to get research into policy and practice is well known. Much debate focuses on the effectiveness of different approaches to dissemination and behaviour change.1–4 This is a significant issue when trying to influence individual practitioners. Another focus is on developing the capacity of research institutions in developing countries, with the expectation that this will increase the relevance and local ownership of results.5 We argue that these two approaches are necessary but not sufficient. The aim should not be to perfect techniques of feeding results to decision-makers, but to start from the perspective of the decision-makers even before devising the questions. This means “getting practice into research”. This approach is not appropriate for research into new and untried treatments where efficacy has not been established, but should become the norm for operational research, by which we understand research into how an intervention is implemented. It is an approach that is gaining ground in the developed north, but which has even greater application in resource-constrained settings. Here, based on our experience in China, Pakistan and elsewhere, are some key considerations: Operational research should be embedded in local programmes. Operational research should emerge out of an ongoing partnership with a national programme. This includes the process of prioritizing, developing, conducting and disseminating research, and is part of national expansion of services. Operational research should focus on local opportunities for going to scale. The first stage is to explore the options that are under consideration for implementation and then design research to inform the choice of how that implementation should best be carried out. For maximum effect, it is often useful to focus attention on situations where there are resources available from international or national agencies, but where some technical or organizational block has prevented them from being used effectively. The research questions may be based on an understanding of the barriers to large-scale access.6 Then trials and social and economic studies can be embedded within programme sites, and provide knowledge on how to overcome these barriers and deliver effective interventions, as in Pakistan.7–9 Because these operational issues are commonly relevant to other high-burden countries, the publication of the results should have international as well as national influence. Interventions to be evaluated should be realistic, given the resource constraints in that setting. Trial designs will vary according to the circumstances, but the key point is that the intervention is not implemented according to some kind of international ideal, relying on additional resources, but is integrated into existing health systems and is carried out using the resources which will be available for eventual scale-up. Unless the resource expectations are realistic, there will be no follow-up to research. The national programme should implement the intervention, while researchers facilitate. Researchers can act as a catalyst for action, and participate within national programme working groups to design the intervention and draft the guidelines and materials required for implementation. They can conduct the research together with the national programme and advise on the national scale-up. The main point is that the national programme implements both the existing service and the intervention being tested (as they will replicate nationally if it is found effective). Researchers can carry out any data-gathering that is over and above the routine (e.g. structured interviews or collection of cost data). Research and programme development should be linked. The development components should run alongside the research, with technical assistance being provided on programme frameworks and operational plans. The intervention research guidelines and training materials should also be adapted and used for successful expansion of whichever modality is supported by the operational research results. By focusing on specific obstacles, embedded research improves resource use and hence resource availability. Done well, operations research not only helps make effective use of existing internal and external resources, but also assists programme managers to mobilize further support once successful implementation has been demonstrated. Supporting programmes to conduct research is the best way to build capacity. The embedded research approach should also build local research capacity. A track record of successful country research helps local research teams to bid for further funding. Health programme managers in developing countries are increasingly recognizing the value of research and are setting up their own research teams. ■

Local Research, Global Governance: A Challenge for Institutional Design

This article explores generic issue in the context of specific case, that of the Global Development Network (GDN). The issue is this: How can global, centralized organization help build the capacity of local, independent institutions and individuals throughout the developing world without imposing an externally driven agenda or indeed stifling the indigenous initiative it is supposed to promote? Perhaps the best illustration of this tension is the relationship between the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the countries whose development they are seeking to assist. These organizations attempt to build capacity and support home-grown strategies, but their efforts are often characterized as heavy-handed, top-down, and centrally driven. Any attempt by global organization to build local capacity must balance hand-holding and hands-off approach. The challenge is especially tricky in the case of GDN. The organization is supposed to empower researchers in the developing and transition countries to conduct independent research in the social sciences. The key word here is independent: good research must be both de facto independent and perceived to be independent. However, GDN is in the process of becoming formal international organization (like the World Bank) with an assembly composed of representatives of the member states as the ultimate authority. Can global organization of this kind build the capacity of local researchers without undermining their independence and originality? The answer offered here is yes. Three aspects of GDN's design support this conclusion: information, governance, and implementation. With regard to information, GDN routinely assesses the needs of its constituents and calls on them to assess the effectiveness of its programs. However, information is of little value if it is not translated into effective action. The second factor therefore is responsive management. In GDN's case, the key feature will be the division of responsibilities between the two major bodies in its governance structure: the Assembly and the Board of Directors. Finally, decisive action, no matter how well intentioned, can fail if it is not properly implemented. By relying on decentralized implementation of its activities and promoting cross-fertilization among peers, GDN increases the prospects of successfully building genuine and lasting local research capacity. While particular manifestations described here may be specific to GDN, the three factors--information, governance, and implementation--are surely critical to all efforts by international organizations to build capacity in developing countries. A Brief Overview GDN was formed in December 1999 to support and link research and policy institutes involved in the field of (1) According to its mission statement, GDN, a worldwide association of research and policy institutes, promotes the generation, sharing, and application to policy of multidisciplinary knowledge for the purpose of development. (2) Achieving these goals involves building policy-relevant research capacity in developing and transition economies in order to generate and sustain effective--and home-grown--socioeconomic policies. Capacity building, in other words, is at the core of GDN's mission. History Beginning its life as unit in the World Bank in late 1999, GDN quickly assumed an independent existence. As early as December 2000, the independent Board of Directors was instituted and charged with the overall management of GDN. While the World Bank retained one slot on the board, the other seventeen slots were filled by representatives of the research community from around the world. The organization also became independent legally and physically. In March 2001, it was incorporated as not-for-profit organization and relocated to 2600 Virginia Avenue in Washington, D.C., where the small secretariat operated for four years. …

No Longer Overlooked and Undervalued? The Evolving Dynamics of Endogenous Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — both in the programs they fund and the types of research they engage in. In this article, Richard Maclure investigates educational research in Africa and juxtaposes research done by large, exogenous, Western, results-oriented organizations with research performed by smaller, endogenous, local researchers aided by local research networks. Maclure argues convincingly that research that falls into the exogenous "donor-control" paradigm far too often is irrelevant to the African educational policy context and does little to develop local research capacity. The cases of two African research networks — the Educational Research Network of West and Central Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa—are presented as exemplars of organizations that promote an alternative type of research that is endogenous, relevant to policy and the process of policymaking, and controlled by Africans. Maclure concludes with a call for increased support for and development of these types of networks, and for the development of the long-term solution to educational research in Africa — the university.

A Proposed PABITRA Study Area on Lauru Island, Western Solomon Islands

The island of Lauru (Choiseul) in the western Solomon Islands is a high (up to 1,060 m) mixed volcanic and limestone uplifted island, located between 6.5° and 7.5° S latitude and 156.5° and 157.5° E longitude. The central part of the island is suggested for inclusion in the Pacific-Asia Biodiversity Transect (PABITRA) system. The proposed area consists of the north-central coast, Mount Barokasa (850 m), Mount Maetabe (1,060 m), and the primary watershed systems that drain these mountains and the central plateau between them. Some of the concerns and expectations of traditional land owners and the Solomon Islands government are considered. These play important roles in any research activity and will be central to the success or failure of the project. The Solomon Islands, Lauru, and the specific study area are briefly described with synopses of previous research and current, preliminary research activities. Preliminary species checklists are given for plants and vertebrates in the area. Initially we propose to establish two transects, each passing through two biomes suitable for comparisons with similar biomes in other PABITRA sites: the tropical montane cloud forest of Mount Maetabe (the highest point in the island), and the lowland rain forests, between 200 and 500 m in elevation to the southwest of Susuka at the base of Mount Barokasa. The two proposed transects will stretch through two different watersheds, one of which has had traditional agriculture practiced in the coastal strand area and the other of which has had traditional agriculture practiced in the lowland forest of midelevations. A research agenda is proposed that will help achieve key objectives of developing local research capacity and internal biodiversity management systems while conserving traditional knowledge.

The Wellcome Trust in Australasia: return on investment.

The Wellcome Trust is the world's largest medical research charity. Investment by the Trust in research in Australia and New Zealand has contributed very substantially to local research capacity through support of people, equipment and programmes. Further, the Trust's funding has -successfully leveraged additional investment from both government and charitable foundations. Current initiatives are focused on development of research partnerships between Australasia and our regional neighbours.

Building local research and development capacity for the prevention and cure of neglected diseases: the case of India.

This paper examines the proposal to build research and development (R&D) capabilities for dealing with neglected infectious and tropical diseases in countries where they are endemic, as a potentially cost- and time-effective way to fill the gap between the supply of and need for new medicines. With reference to the situation in India, we consider the competencies and incentives needed by companies so that their strategy can be shifted from reverse engineering of existing products to investment in R&D for new products. This requires complex reforms, of which the intellectual property rights agreement is only one. We also consider whether Indian companies capable of conducting research and development are likely to target neglected diseases. Patterns of patenting and of R&D, together with evidence from interviews we have conducted, suggest that Indian companies, like multinational corporations, are likely to target global diseases because of the prospect of much greater returns. Further studies are required on how Indian companies would respond to push and pull incentives originally designed to persuade multinational corporations to do more R&D on neglected diseases.