This blog is a story of Malaria killing the children in Tanzania even more than AIDS.
This movie will hopefully help raise awareness among the global community.
Wen Kilama is a retired malaria
researcher and Professor of Parasitology. He is the founder and first
Managing Trustee of the African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET).
Professor Kilama has steered AMANET since its founding as Africa
Malaria Vaccine Testing Network (AMVTN) in 1995 to an organization that
is leading Africa in researching, developing and eventual deployment
of affordable malaria intervention tools. He is currently leading
efforts in reforming AMANET. Being a Member of both AMANET and Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Boards, and the AMANET Scientific Coordinating Committee, he provides visionary and strategic guidance to both.
He has served in various capacities on numerous committees and task forces for the World Health Organization, the World Bank, US agencies, and the European Commission among
others. He is an exceptional advisor for malaria research capacity
strengthening throughout Africa, as well as an expert source of
knowledge and advice on issues pertaining to both health research
ethics and sustainable development in malaria research.
As Network Director, Prof Oloo, deputizes
the Managing Trustee, spearheads planning and implementation of AMANET
programmes, projects, training, seminars, scholarships and fellowships,
strategic planning and dissemination of network outputs to the various
stakeholders. He promotes inter-agency relations between AMANET and its
stakeholders and collaborators.
Prior to joining AMANET, Prof. Oloo served at the WHO Africa Regional Office(WHO-AFRO)
in Harare, Zimbabwe as the focal point in the planning and
implementation of programmes and innovative strategies for strengthening
health systems (traditional and community / Home based) for control and
prevention of malaria and other priority diseases. Before joining
WHO-AFRO, Prof Oloo was Associate Professor in the department of
Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, at the Faculty of Health
Sciences, Moi University and, Director Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Kisumu (1989 – 1999).
Prof Oloo holds an MBChB degree and Masters of Medicine degree from the University of Nairobi. He also held additional fellowships on Tropical Medicine and on Clinical Epidemiology from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and University of Newcastle,
Australia respectively. He has authored and co- authored several
publications on malaria, other communicable diseases and in public
health.
As a Clinical Trials Coordinator Dr
Ejigu coordinates all Clinical Trials sponsored by AMANET and ensures
the trials are conducted in conformance with applicable international
standards and local regulations. Together with Project Managers,
Clinical Research Associates, clinical monitors and clinical trial site
staff members, Dr Ejigu is responsible for planning, implementing,
monitoring and evaluating clinical trials under AMANET sponsorship. He
will also serve as interface between AMANET and key external contacts
and collaborators including product developers, contract research
organizations and research associates. Apart from coordination of
clinical trial activities, he works towards maintaining the quality
assurance programme in AMANET and coordinates external audits.
Dr Ejigu obtained his Medical Doctorate degree from
University of Gondar, Ethiopia in 2001 and graduated with Masters in
Pharmacology from the Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia in 2005. He
worked as Assistant Lecturer at Department of Pharmacology, University
of Gondar immediately after his medical studies. He also worked as
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in the AAU, Faculty of Medicine.
Dr Ejigu attended a one year fellowship organized by
GSK-Bio/TDR in GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Belgium on tuberculosis
vaccine development in 2007/2008 where he worked as Global Study
Manager. Following his training at GSK-Bio he worked as Clinical Monitor
for TDR. Dr Ejigu has also worked as Clinical Trial Associate and
Project Manager for European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI)/European
Vaccine Initiative (EVI).
Dr Noor is AMANET's Clinical Trials Coordinator and Project Coordinator (CTC) for the GMZ2 Consortium.
As CTC he is responsible for the coordination of all AMANET sponsored
clinical trials, and therefore the principal advisor to the Managing
Trustee on all matters relating to clinical trials, including their
planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation.
In addition, he assists the Managing
Trustee in conceptualizing, planning and execution of other AMANET
projects such as training workshops, web-based learning in Health
Research Ethics and Good Clinical Practice. As Project Coordinator, he
is responsible for the overall coordination of the GMZ2 Consortium, an
integrated project involving seven north and south partners working to
foster research capacity, networking and project management through
phase I-IIb clinical trials of candidate malaria vaccine GMZ2
Previously he worked for four years with
the Muhimbili University of Health Sciences-Harvard Research
Collaboration as a research physician, and later as an Assistant to the
Field Director for Muhimbili – Dar Es salaam City – Harvard School of
Public Health (MDH) HIV/AIDS Care, Treatment and Programme. While at
Harvard, he concurrently worked as a part-time Research Fellow with the
Department of Nutrition Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
mainly focusing on Multivitamins and HIV/AIDS trials for people on
highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). Before that Dr Noor
worked as a Registrar Medical Officer at Muhimbili National Hospital
(2001-2003) in Tanzania.
Dr Nyika joined AMANET in April 2007. As
Ethics Coordinator, he is the focal person for the “Building
Institutional Capacities in Health Research Ethics (HRE) in Africa”
project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He manages the HRE Project which aims at strengthening the ethical
review process at African health research institutions, training health
research investigators in HRE and promotion of African perspectives to
Health Research Ethics through the creation and fostering of an
electronic discussion forum, and encouragement of electronic discussion
and debate on bioethics issues in Africa.
Dr Nyika obtained his Bachelor of Science
in Biosciences at the University of Zimbabwe in 1992, holds a PhD
degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Florida, and Master of Public Health degree majoring in Health Research Ethics from the University of Pretoria.
Previous positions as Admin and Finance
Officer with UNICEF Tanzania 2002 - 2003 and Chief Internal Auditor
Habib Bank (Tz) 2000 – 2002), Finance and Administrative Manager for
AMANET 2003 – present, Holder of Bachelor Commerce, University of Dar es
Salaam 1994.
Dr Brenda Apio Okech is the GMZ2 Project Manager since January 2009. The new Integrated GMZ2 Project is funded by European-Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
and comprises a consortium of seven international partners operating
under four work packages. As GMZ2 Project Manager, Dr Okech works in
collaboration with consortium work package leaders to ensure smooth and
timely implementation of the project. Particularly, she will be
responsible for developing and implementing innovative and up to date
information sharing mechanisms within the consortium, generating monthly
updates of project activities, facilitating south-south and north-south
trainees and fellowship placements within networked institutions, and
organizing GMZ2 Project Steering Committee meetings among other
activities.
Dr Okech brings with her extensive
experience in different aspects of malaria vaccine trials. Prior to
joining AMANET, she worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Med Biotech Laboratories (MBL)
in Kampala, Uganda. At MBL, she was involved in preclinical malaria
studies and also in preparations for future malaria vaccine clinical
trials. She was also responsible for supervising graduate students and
assisting the MBL Director in managing immunology projects.
Dr Okech obtained her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Makerere University,
Uganda in 1995, subsequently joining Med Biotech Laboratories as a
Research Associate 1996. Dr Okech holds a PhD in Immunology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (2000-2004). After her PhD, she returned to MBL until 2007 when she joined Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK)
Laboratories in Belgium for a one-year WHO/GSK Fellow in management of
malaria vaccine clinical research and development. She is currently a WHO Clinical Monitor and has provided consultancy in various missions.
As APO, Mr Majila assists the Finance
and Administration Manager in executing AMANET projects particularly the
Health Research Ethics (HRE) project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He is responsible for monitoring project finances, procurements,
operations, and ensuring that AMANET sub-grantees adhere to agreed
financial and accounting procedures.
Before joining AMANET, he worked as Finance and Administration Manager forPlan International-Kibaha Programme Unit, Tanzania (2006-2007)
where he was responsible for projects funded from various international
sources. Prior to this he had worked as Programme Accountant and
Administrator for World Vision Tanzania (2001-2005).
Mr. Majila obtained his Bachelor of Commerce and Management (Finance Major) at the University of Dar es salaam, Tanzania, in 2000. He also holds a Masters degree in Business Administration majoring in Finance and Banking from the Mzumbe University, Tanzania.
Ms Mfinanga is Executive Assistant to the
Managing Trustee (MT). She assists MT with correspondence, literature
search, preparation of publications, and presentations. She also
provides secretarial services to MT, and to the Secretariat staff. Other
duties include keeping records of management, Scientific Coordinating
Committee (SCC) and Board of Trustees (BOT) meetings and other meetings;
following up implementation of agreed decisions; makeing travel
arrangements for Secretariat staff, meetings, workshops and conferences;
and maintaining and updatings filing system and archiving for the
Secretariat.
Before joining AMANET, Ms Mfinanga worked as
Administrative Officer for the School of Public Health and Social
Sciences at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in
Tanzania (2003 – 2007), and as a Research Fellow (2001 – 2003). She
holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (International Relations and Public
administration, 2001) of the University of Dar es salaam.
Facebook
Wikipedia
Twitter
Prof Wen Kilama
He is among other things a former Chairman of the Malaria Foundation International, Past President of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, and member of the WHO global Advisory Panel on Health Research. Professor Kilama is Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
He has served in various capacities on numerous committees and task forces for the World Health Organization, the World Bank, US agencies, and the European Commission among others. He is an exceptional advisor for malaria research capacity strengthening throughout Africa, as well as an expert source of knowledge and advice on issues pertaining to both health research ethics and sustainable development in malaria research.
Prof James Oloo, MD, PhD
Dr Dawit Ejigu, MD, MSc
Dr Ejigu obtained his Medical Doctorate degree from University of Gondar, Ethiopia in 2001 and graduated with Masters in Pharmacology from the Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia in 2005. He worked as Assistant Lecturer at Department of Pharmacology, University of Gondar immediately after his medical studies. He also worked as Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in the AAU, Faculty of Medicine.
Dr Ejigu attended a one year fellowship organized by GSK-Bio/TDR in GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Belgium on tuberculosis vaccine development in 2007/2008 where he worked as Global Study Manager. Following his training at GSK-Bio he worked as Clinical Monitor for TDR. Dr Ejigu has also worked as Clinical Trial Associate and Project Manager for European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI)/European Vaccine Initiative (EVI).
Dr Ramadhani Noor, MD, MPH
Dr Aceme Nyika, BSc, PhD, MPH
Mr Badru Amri, BCom, ACPA, ACCA
Dr Brenda Okech, PhD
Mr Bonney Majila, BCom, MBA
Ms Leila Mfinanga, BA
Before joining AMANET, Ms Mfinanga worked as Administrative Officer for the School of Public Health and Social Sciences at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania (2003 – 2007), and as a Research Fellow (2001 – 2003). She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (International Relations and Public administration, 2001) of the University of Dar es salaam.