DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
Dengue campaign workers Milaydis and Rafaela inspect a watertank in La Lisa neighbourhood home, Cuba
With generous support from the Belgian Ministry and Directorate-General for Development (DGD), ITM runs an extensive programme of individual and institutional capacity building in the South. Under the motto “Switching the Poles”, partner institutes gradually take charge of the collaboration in order to develop the scientific and medical expertise most relevant for their country as well as the world. The third framework agreement between ITM and DGD, which kicked off in 2008, came to an end on 31 December 2016 having received an annual budget of no less than € 15.500.000.
A changing political context
In recent years, DGD has focused its “bilateral” (country to country) cooperation increasingly on the least developed countries, fragile states and post-conflict zones, mainly in Africa. While this policy is not compulsory for NGOs and other “indirect actors” such as the universities and ITM, these bodies concluded an agreement with DGD to limit their number of partner countries with a similar, be it less exclusive, focus. As a consequence, countries such as India or Indonesia, where ITM has enjoyed long-standing partnerships, are no longer eligible for DGD support. We narrowed our country portfolio further by winding down our institutional capacity building in Ecuador, Bolivia, Morocco, Senegal and Uganda, where our partners had largely reached their development goals. We strive to continue these partnerships in joint research and education initiatives.
A new framework programme
In September 2016, ITM submitted a proposal to DGD for a fourth ITM-DGD framework programme for the period 2017-2021. The new programme includes collaboration with 10 country programmes in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Peru, South Africa and Vietnam. In each country, we will collaborate with one to four partner institutes to strengthen national capacity for health research, training and service delivery. Thematically, the country programmes range from diagnostics, treatment and control of neglected tropical and infectious diseases to health systems with specific attention to reproductive health, fragile contexts and socio-economic and anthropological determinants, such as access to care or acceptance of interventions. Guinea-Conakry is a new partner country and we will begin to collaborate with the “Centre National de Recherche et Formation en Santé Rurale” and the NGO “Fraternité Médicale Guinée” to train health professionals and to rebuild the national health system in the post-Ebola era.
The ITM-DGD framework agreement includes 10 country programmes in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Peru, South Africa and Vietnam.
Also part of the programme is a special ITM initiative in DR Congo aimed at advancing innovative technical and strategic approaches to the control and elimination of sleeping sickness (Human African Trypanosomiasis), receiving matching support from the Bill & Melinda Gates and Cargill Foundations.
The new ITM-DGD framework agreement also allows us to develop and strengthen a global “Alliance” programme of education, training and exchange in institutional partner countries and beyond. Other initiatives in the coming five-year programme are fellowships for ITM’s expert, master’s and PhD training; expert and policy support from ITM experts to DGD; the coordination of Be-cause health (the platform of Belgian actors in international health, www.because-health.be) and networks on international health policy (www.internationalhealthpolicies.org) and the quality of medicines (www.quamed.org). Public awareness initiatives on tropical and global health are also foreseen.
In a similar but separate programme, funded by the Flemish Ministry of International Affairs, ITM supports the work of the National Public Health Institute in Maputo, Mozambique. ■
3rd
ITM-DGD Framework Agreement ended in 2016
Esther Nakkazi, 2016 Journalist-in-residence
Journalist-in-residence
2016
Since 2014, the Institute has been inviting a journalist from Africa, Asia or Latin America each year to reside here for several weeks. After deepening their understanding of tropical medicine and global health issues in Antwerps, the journalists-in-residence are better equipped to report about these issues. Ugandan science journalist, Esther Nakkazi, was selected from a range of candidates as ITM’s Journalist-in-Residence 2016. Esther is a freelance reporter specialised in science and technology. She teaches media training and mentors African science journalists in Uganda and beyond. Esther maintains an active blog called ‘Uganda ScieGirl’ where she writes about science and health. At ITM, Esther contributed to our International Health Policy newsletter, increasing her knowledge about health policy. She also reported about the 2016 Ebola conference held in Antwerp in September, which reflected on the latest outbreak and commemorated the 40th anniversary of the first Ebola outbreak in Yambuku, DRC in 1976.
Country programmes range from diagnostics, treatment and control of neglected tropical and infectious diseases to health systems
Journalist-in-residence
2016
Since 2014, the Institute has been inviting a journalist from Africa, Asia or Latin America each year to reside here for several weeks. After deepening their understanding of tropical medicine and global health issues in Antwerps, the journalists-in-residence are better equipped to report about these issues. Ugandan science journalist, Esther Nakkazi, was selected from a range of candidates as ITM’s Journalist-in-Residence 2016. Esther is a freelance reporter specialised in science and technology. She teaches media training and mentors African science journalists in Uganda and beyond. Esther maintains an active blog called ‘Uganda ScieGirl’ where she writes about science and health. At ITM, Esther contributed to our International Health Policy newsletter, increasing her knowledge about health policy. She also reported about the 2016 Ebola conference held in Antwerp in September, which reflected on the latest outbreak and commemorated the 40th anniversary of the first Ebola outbreak in Yambuku, DRC in 1976.
“Country programmes range from diagnostics, treatment and control of neglected tropical and infectious diseases to health systems”
“Whenever health issues come up in my discussions, ITM gets a positive mention”
Alexander De Croo Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation
“Whenever health issues come up in my discussions, ITM gets a positive mention”
Alexander De Croo
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Development Cooperation
“Whenever health issues come up in my discussions, ITM gets a positive mention,” said Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo about our reputation when visiting our Institute in November 2016. The Minister and ITM’s management committee discussed the past, present and future of the relationship between ITM and the Ministry. The delegation also met with students and researchers from the South currently being trained at ITM thanks to support from DGD.
Minister De Croo received a special briefing on the sleeping sickness programme in DR Congo and encouraged ITM to set ambitious goals for the elimination of this long-time affliction.
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Portrait
Better health for all in India
Dr. N. Devadasan, Director of Institute of Public Health, Bangalore, India
In 2008, ITM started working with the Institute of Public Health (IPH) in Bangalore within the framework of its institutional capacity building programme funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation. Founded in 2005 by ITM alumnus Dr. N. Devadasan, IPH has since made a noticeable impact on improving access to quality health care in India through research, capacity building and advocacy.
India has a mixed public/private healthcare system. When people become ill they often turn to private practitioners believing they will receive better and quicker care. However, this is not always the case, as actors in the unregulated private sector often authorise unnecessary treatments motivated by financial incentives. Currently, seventy percent of medical expenses in the country come from out-of-pocket payments, which forces around 60 million people into poverty each year. This is where IPH comes in, taking equitable access to health care to heart.
ITM has helped IPH to set up a pioneering e-learning programme on public health management for health professionals, and the two institutes collaborate on several joint research projects, which feed into policymaking. For instance, researchers from both institutes examine district health services, looking at financial constraints in government structures. They also investigate why people do or do not visit public facilities, in order to identify areas of improvement for the public sector.
In 2015, IPH also took over the coordination of ITM’s “Emerging Voices for Global Health”, an innovative multi-partner blended training programme aimed at empowering young researchers from the South by providing intensive skills training and facilitating their participation in a global health conference.
In other words, IPH Bangalore has come a long way in a decade. “ITM has helped us to grow as an institution. Our relationship is built on mutual respect and shared priorities,” said Dr. N. Devadasan. “Today, we have trained more than 1.800 students and published more than 100 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, all this within a period of eight years”.
2017 marks a new chapter in the relationship between ITM and IPH. Due to a changing political agenda, IPH Bangalore will not be formally included in ITM’s 2017-2021 capacity building programme, but both parties are determined to continue collaboration. (see also the main text on this page).
It has also recently come to light that these plans might be complicated by India’s Home Ministry’s decision to deny IPH, as well as many other NGOs, permission to continue receiving foreign funds. It is difficult to see this decision apart from the important contribution IPH has made, through research and advocacy, to a recent anti-tobacco law in Karnataka, a state of about 65 million people. Despite these setbacks, ITM is thrilled with IPH’s achievements and is eager to continue joining forces to promote better health in India and beyond.
“Today, IPH is considered as a credible academic institution and its faculty are on various government committees. We hope to continue our efforts to strengthen the Indian health systems, so that the most vulnerable get access to quality health care and can lead a healthy life,” said Devadasan. ■
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