Though more than half of the burden of infectious and tropical diseases is focused on Africa, involvement of local entities in research and advocacy has been limited, at least in part due to the lack of research capacity and opportunities for young scientists to lead research projects. To achieve elimination and control targets for infectious diseases, local stakeholders need to conduct quality research and utilize data to understand why challenges persist and determine the most appropriate approaches and interventions to address them. Indeed, building capacity in young scientists represents a promising solution to retaining skilled researchers in the fight against diseases and to ensure impactful results for local control programs. Addressing the critical challenge between research and policy particularly in the Central African Region inspired the establishment of the Centre for Infection Biology and Tropical Health.
The Centre for Infection Biology and Tropical Health (CIBITH) is a non-governmental, non-profit, research-based organization founded in 2021 with headquarters in Limbe, Cameroon and affiliated to the University of Buea. CIBITH position itself as a public, scientific and technical establishment with legal personality and financial autonomy. CIBITH is built on the core objective to support regional efforts in conducting innovative high-quality research for major health threats and training the next generations of scientists and public health leaders to improve health and prevent diseases through translation of research knowledge into policy and practice.
CIBITH is firmly committed to building research capacity in the Central African context towards tackling infectious diseases through a one-health approach centered on the 5Ps: People, Pathogen, Partnership, Population, and Policy. Clinical or scientific research in the Centre is underpinned by a combination of laboratory facilities and access to field sites for sample collection among well-characterized populations under ethically approved regulations.
CIBITH positions itself as a hub for training young African scientists to conducts cutting-edge research to guide the development of new approaches to disease diagnosis, prevention, & control. The Centre is actively contributing to the training of master’s and PhD scholars within the Central African Region and provides opportunities for continuous professional and career development through short courses. Committed to the framework of impact science, CIBITH places high values on public engagement and community involvement to enhance local capacity and the likelihood that research outputs will inform country programs.
More specifically, CIBITH aims to:
- Build a local research ecosystem of internationally competitive next generation scientists embedded with solid base of knowledge, critical thinking, and core skills.
- Contribute to the control of infectious diseases of public health in the Central African Region.
- Tackle Neglected tropical diseases, with a focus on their overlap with non-communicable diseases.
- Focus on the consideration of human health alongside animal health and the environment (i.e. One Health), in the context of social and economic factors.
- Pioneer research leadership to improve maternal and neonatal health within the Region.
- Enhance multidisciplinary and multi-country research collaborations on a platform of equitable partnership to support programmatic policy decision-making on tropical disease elimination.
