Gates Package — page 116

Research for Health: The Experience of the US/ Mali International Center for Excellence in Research Background The reasons for initiating efforts for improving the research capacity in developing countries are many and varied. In some cases, it may be the policy of a national foreign assistance program or international agency to sponsor institutional strengthening. In such programs the goal is usually to improve a countries capacity to better solve those health problems that are of greatest concern. In such programs the involvement of partners and/or experts from more developed institutions may be transient or long lasting, but in the end, the goal is the improvement of a national capacity. These partners are usually functioning as contractors to the donor and basically are providing a service to the recipient. Other programs may be stimulated by the need for a research institution to develop a mechanism for extending its programs into areas where diseases are endemic, not just academic. Such programs are intrinsically less altruistic, but in the end can often serve not only their own needs, but effectively work to strengthen the research capacities of the country in which they have chosen to work. In the late 1980s it became clear that the medical entomology program of the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health required a field research component to complement its laboratory based research efforts on the development of transgenic mosquitoes. The implementation of a strategy for malaria control based on altering the capacity of vector populations to transmit the malaria parasite required a better understanding of the population genetics of these populations in the field. Mali was selected as the site to establish such a program because of the presence in that country of Dr. Yeya Toure and a recognized team of Malian researchers already working on the genetics and cytogenetics of Anopheles gambiae. An. gambiae is the primary vector of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and was the mosquito targeted by the NIH for genetic manipulation. Dr. Toure had achieved an international reputation for his work on mosquito populations and for his skill in managing and implementing medical research programs. Indeed, in 1989, in addition to his faculty position as Professor of Biology and Genetics at the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy (ENMP) of Mali, Dr. Toure was serving as Director-General of the National Center for Scientific Research and Technology of the Republic of Mali. The medical entomology program at the ENMP was part of the unofficial department (DEAP) started by the French under the direction of Dr. Phillipe Ranque. In the 1980s, Dr. Ranque selected a number of outstanding Malian scientists to be trained in Europe. In addition to Dr. Toure, the group included Dr. Anatole Tounkara (now deceased), who