Cabo Verde's Ministry of Health has restated its support for health research and evidence-based policymaking as Praia hosted the third international workshop of the Towards Leadership programme this week.
The programme is run by the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) together with Cabo Verde's Coordinating Committee for the Fight against AIDS (CCS-SIDA). It brought together about 35 early-career researchers from 15 countries. Its goal is to help recently qualified African scientists step into leadership: setting up laboratories, managing teams, attracting international funding, and making the case to their own governments for investing in health research.
Opening the workshop, Secretary of State for Health Artur Veiga said African countries need their own scientific leaders to understand local health challenges and turn evidence into better care for their populations.
Dawn Duke, AREF's Director of Researcher Development, named several areas in Cabo Verde that stand to gain from stronger research skills, including disease surveillance, research after malaria elimination, and chronic non-communicable diseases. Cabo Verde was also held up as a reference case for malaria elimination on the continent. The country was chosen as host partly to extend the programme's reach into Portuguese-speaking Africa.
Why this matters for palliative care
Chronic non-communicable diseases account for a growing share of the need for palliative care across Africa. Locally led research is how countries build the evidence to plan for that need and integrate palliative care into their health systems. APCA welcomes investment in African research leadership, including in Lusophone countries, where the evidence base for palliative care is still thin.
Read the full report from Inforpress (English): Cabo Verde reaffirms its commitment to promoting scientific research in the field of health
