THE SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the US National Institute of Health (NIH) have awarded $40 million (R484.5m) over a five-year period towards biomedical and behavioural research.
Research for tuberculosis (TB) will get 30 percent of the funding.
Projects funded through this multimillion-dollar programme will also include research that addresses HIV prevention for high-risk women, investigation on the effect of HIV on breast cancer treatment and research on how to optimise paediatric TB treatment.
SAMRC president Glenda Gray said the commitment by the NIH and the council would lead to new discoveries and strengthen South African research and management capacity. The SAMRC is the biggest local funder for medical research in the country.
“Our scientists will get the opportunity to work with top US investigators and provide access to the NIH peer review process. It also allows us to engage in joint programme oversight at the highest international level.”
US NIH associate director for international research affairs Gray Handley said the NIH chose to support research in South Africa because the government was always keen to invest in research and improve the science capacity. This set South African scientific research ahead of the rest, he said.
“South African investigators had tough competition and we look forward to expanding on their research.”
Researchers not only had to compete against other international researchers, but also had to give an argument that supported why their specific research required funding.
“The quality of the application determined the amount of money that was allocated to the research, and it happened to be that the best applications came for research of tuberculosis,” said Handley.
Gray said TB was still a huge problem in the country and it became a burden to the health system.
Previously, more funding went to research for HIV/Aids, compared to TB.
South Africa is one of the countries with the highest cases of TB. The World Health Organisation estimated that annually about 482 000 people contracted the disease.
“We are looking at a meaningful way to deal with the issues of TB escalation,” said Gray. The SAMRC research has been steered by the Department of Health and its deputy director-general, Dr Anban Pillay.
Research funding would allow for research of newer drugs to deal with the epidemic, especially where patients had become resistant to drugs used in treatment, Pillay said.