Empowering the next generation of health leaders in Africa

Given that Africa is home to the fastest-growing population globally and set to comprise nearly half of the world’s youth by within the next 75 years, the situation is only going to worsen.

This is why Stellenbosch University (SU) has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation, who contributed an initial US$ 9 million, and the Institute Pasteur in Dakar (IPD), SU’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) to launch the African STARS Fellowship Programme. The groundbreaking fellowship will help nurture the continent's new healthcare research leaders to create a skilled workforce in genomics, diagnostics, and vaccine design and production in Africa.

Over the next three years, it aims to produce more than 100 scientific leaders able to strengthen African capacity in critical areas of genomics and bioinformatics. As Prof Tulio de Oliveira, Director of the CERI, explains: “We do not have sufficient high-level scientists and often, after we train them, we cannot retain the scientists and innovators in Africa. We need to create the ecosystems to attract, train and retain them.”

The African STARS fellowship will elevate training in Africa by creating structured programmes and providing up to two years training and fostering partnership with big industry and biotechnology innovation hubs with the ultimate objective to create jobs that will retain and attract talented scientists to the African continent.

It’s first phase will fund 131 fellows over three years, with an emphasis on inclusivity and equitable representation across all African regions. The initiative aims to ensure that 60% of trainees are young women, addressing the gender disparities prevalent in the science and technology fields.

[embed]

The programme will include two structured master’s programmes of two years, including a master’s in business administration (MBA) on Health Care Leadership and a structured Masters on Pathogen Genomics and Bioinformatics. It will also have two short term fellowships focusing on intense training on advanced genomics for public health analysis, genomic diagnostic design, and/or aspects around vaccine manufacturing and the Young Professional Program (YPP) offering 12 months of training focused on biotechnology innovation and entrepreneurship. This will include placement at commercial companies, industry or innovation hubs.

The impact of this programme cannot be understated. As Dr Richard Gordon, Director for International Business Development, South African Medical Research Council, points out: “In Africa, for every job created in science, you create 20 other jobs in supply chain or manufacturing, etc. So, if we create 100 posts with this fellowship, we will create 2 000 jobs. This is why we invest in science.”

Dr Solomon Zedwu, CEO of the END (a private non-profit organisation dedicated to combating the five most common neglected tropical diseases) Fund and former senior executive resident, Mastercard Foundation adds: “What we are doing effectively now is training for the world. While young Africans are getting employment, they are not getting employment in Africa. This is really putting the continent backwards and it is not pushing it into a space where Africa can compete with the rest of the world and contribute to solving problems on the continent.”

Prof Wim de Villiers, SU Rector and Vice-Chancellor, hails the programme as a “transformative initiative designed to develop the next generation of African scientific leaders”. It will bridge the gap between science and industry by equipping fellows with the skills to address Africa’s pressing health challenges.

• More about the African STARS Fellowship Programme and application details: https://starsfellows.africa