Historic first: Africa hosts Inclusive Health Research Awards

Source: Supplied. Akin Jimoh, chief editor at Nature Africa.

The two-dayevent, which concluded on Thursday, 24 October 2024 spotlighted the continent's growing role in global, inclusive health research and offered a platform to highlight innovative solutions and foster collaboration.

The event highlighted Africa's successes in science and health research, particularly lessons learned from the Covid-19 response and other infectious diseases. It emphasised the continent’s capacity for healthcare innovation and the crucial role of equitable collaboration between researchers and participants, as demonstrated in HIV/Aids research.

By hosting the IHRA, Africa gained the necessary spotlight to advance homegrown solutions and some level of self-sufficiency in healthcare. It is a platform for the continent to promote and facilitate the agenda for an integrated working approach between the Global North and within the Global South.

African researchers are innovators, and the conference and awards ceremony provided a platform to bring its voices to the global village square.

It was an opportunity to spotlight and display innovative research and health initiatives that involve close collaboration with patients, originated here on the continent, which should prove its capabilities to the global health science and economic communities.

Celebrating African innovation

Spotlighting the work of African scientists and innovators is also what Nature Africa does every day with its coverage.

In driving the global healthcare discourse, one could simply look at the local events of Covid-19, where several solutions were generated locally amidst doubts and fears that the pandemic would decimate the continent.

The continent’s well-co-ordinated and collaborative approach to confronting the virus is certainly commendable. By combining various layers of response, decentralisation, innovation, and building on existing systems, these crucial techniques helped avert what could have been detrimental.

From Botswana, South Africa, to Nigeria, the distribution vaccines and sequencing of the virus ensured that Africa survived. This process also relied on collaboration between the Global South - led by Africa, and the North - an important blueprint for working together.

Advancing health equity

As the IHRA took place on African soil, it gave impetus to the work of equitable health research, to not only celebrate milestones but to amplify what still needs to be done.

African researchers, innovators, and organisations have demonstrated their dedication to improving health outcomes over the years, and therefore, Africa is a well-poised case study from both a historic and future-looking point of view. It is ready to participate pragmatically to move our world forward. This is especially for the benefit of marginalised and underserved communities of the Global South.

This forum also offered the continent a moment to challenge the traditional power dynamics in the global health economy.

If you think of how millions of people from the Global South were denied life-saving vaccines at the height of the pandemic in 2021 and also during the current Mpox outbreak, deepening inequality and human suffering, you start to understand the importance of self-dependence for the continent to both prevent and overcome these sorts of health crises.

Building local capacity

There is a need to advance homegrown solutions so that we can be self-sufficient.

Another important aspect to highlight is the idea of equitable collaboration between researchers, those, patients and local communities, impacted by research. I believe that we can achieve more in medical sciences and research when we are deliberately getting communities and patients actively involved.

Think about how HIV and Aids research was conducted. We included people living with HIV to better understand their realities. This approach helped us produce solutions that work, helping Africa and the world deal with the epidemic as effectively as possible.

The event brought together leading scientists and health researchers from across the world to discuss how to improve health outcomes for all of society.

The aim was to create an inclusive health-research ecosystem where expertise is shared, where mentoring continues, local resources are utilised, and we inspire the next generation of researchers.

The Inclusive Health Research Awards was an important moment for inclusive health-research development and to highlight the role of the African continent in this work.