Research network wins approximately £5.7 million to target human and animal diseases...( Deadly diseases including plague Ebo...)

Deadly diseases including plague, Ebola and Rift Valley Fever are being targeted as part of a new multi-million pound international partnership involving African researchers and the London International Development Centre (LIDC). The Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) links medical and veterinary institutions from five African countries and the UK to improve the capacity of African institutions to detect, identify and monitor infectious diseases affecting humans and animals, including new infectious human diseases of animal origin.

SACIDS will primarily be supported by a grant of approximately 5.7 million announced today by the Wellcome Trust the UK's largest charity under its African Institutions Initiative. The SACIDS network, involving researchers from Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and the UK, was launched at its Secretariat meeting at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, on 31 March. The collaboration has also received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and Google.org.

SACIDS has made a 'smart partnership' with the London International Development Centre (LIDC) a collaborative project bringing together social and natural scientists from six University of London colleges. Two of these colleges the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) are to support SACIDS in various ways, including helping to develop courses and research skills for African researchers. This interdisciplinary partnership embodies the 'one health' approach, which promotes collaborations between human and animal health sectors. The link between SACIDS and LIDC also fulfils many of LIDC's aims to address complex international development issues by promoting interdisciplinary research, creating new teaching programmes, establishing partnerships with institutions in the developing world, and helping to build capacity
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