Universities have become central to COVID-19 response

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, universities across the globe are meeting the challenge and playing an enormous role in the response. Learning from this experience will help to ensure that the expertise and unique role of the academic community are fostered for tomorrow’s public health needs.

Universities – especially those in Africa and other resource-constrained settings – have a multifaceted responsibility in public health preparedness and response.

Knowledge generation

First, knowledge generation starts in our higher education institutions. Through laboratory science and field research, universities have identified effective therapeutics for COVID-19, provided current and projected case numbers, conducted genomic sequencing and begun to understand the condition of ‘long COVID’, among many other achievements.

The first case of COVID-19 in Nigeria was diagnosed by the college of medicine at the University of Lagos.

In addition, the first SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence in Africa was reported as a collaboration between the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases based at Redeemer’s University in Ede, Nigeria. Redeemer’s University has also provided training on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing to other Africa Union member states.

As an example of universities’ capacity for rapid information generation and dissemination, the Africa Research, Implementation, Science and Education (ARISE) Network – a network of over a dozen training and research institutions across Africa – has provided valuable information on disruptions to the food system during COVID-19 as well as barriers to healthcare access during the pandemic, among other issues.

Policy briefs produced by ARISE Network institutions have identified options for mitigating COVID-related challenges in their respective countries. Importantly, universities have the capacity and expertise and are poised to bring a multidisciplinary approach to a problem that transcends any single field of study.

The current pandemic has required economics, business, artificial intelligence, communication and community engagement in addition to medical and public health expertise.

Universities occupy a unique niche due to their ability to bring together experts from across fields and disciplines to rapidly produce and disseminate new knowledge.

Public health training

Second, the scientists and public health professionals guiding the COVID-19 response today and those who will respond to the world’s next pandemic are trained by our universities. The expertise nurtured in academic settings is applied within our public health entities, healthcare systems and industries.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership are launching a new training programme on disease outbreak and epidemic response for highly skilled epidemiologists and biostatisticians in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Graduates of the programme will enhance the capacity of the national public health institutes in infectious disease surveillance, monitoring and response. Similarly, the Africa Academy for Public Health and the University of Ibadan Research Foundation, both unique public-private-academic partnerships, provide platforms to foster collaboration between African institutions and support training programmes to enhance public health competencies among public and private sector leaders.

African universities have demonstrated incredible innovation and creativity in learning as educational approaches have shifted to virtual and hybrid environments. The creation of virtual journal clubs, for example, has provided continuity for knowledge sharing and dissemination among scholars and clinician scientists. Greater investment is needed to harness available technology and advance hybrid training platforms.

Universities will ensure that the next generation of leaders has the skills to detect and respond to outbreaks, address social-related health needs, respond to climate change and promote health and well-being.

University collaborations with governments

Third, collaborations between universities and national public health institutes (NPHIs) have facilitated much of the COVID-19 response. University students and staff have supported surveillance measures, contact tracing, data collection and interpretation of data in support of public entities. For example, the University of Ibadan has partnered with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to support health services at busy ports of entry.

Postgraduate students have been deployed to screen international travellers, conduct risk communication with passengers and monitor persons of interest, while faculty have trained rapid response teams at subnational levels.

In addition, Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) are led by NPHIs with collaboration from universities. For example, the Nigeria FETP is led by NCDC and was established with support from Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Ibadan.

Partnerships with NPHIs could be further strengthened: many providing technical support during the pandemic have no public sector experience, while many in the public sector have no formal public health training.

Trust and communications

Fourth, in Africa as across the world, the public has looked to its universities for truthful information during the pandemic. Universities play a crucial role in providing a trusted source of factual information to communities.

Importantly, institutions such as the University of Ibadan, founded in 1948, have been around for decades, evolving with local and national government administrations. They are embedded in local communities and have a mandate to support local health priorities. Therefore, information that comes from known and trusted university staff can have a meaningful impact on the public’s health behaviour.

Experts from the college of medicine, the faculty of public health and the department of statistics at the University of Ibadan are leading governmental committees and programmes at federal and state levels, helping to drive the agenda for COVID-19 in Nigeria.

In addition, universities provide actionable data on vaccine hesitancy. The Vaccine Confidence Project, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is a collaboration between interdisciplinary researchers that identifies public confidence in vaccines – from polio to COVID-19 – and works to address barriers to vaccine uptake.

University partnerships

University partnerships with various foundations and global health partners serve to advance these four critical functions. Previously established partnerships with direct engagement of African institutions and long-term global investments in research and capacity building are paying significant dividends in efforts to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

Global partnership initiatives such as the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, Wellcome Trust’s Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa programme, the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) consortium and various training programmes funded by the Fogarty International Center at the United States National Institutes of Health have played important roles in addressing malaria, HIV/Aids, the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014-16 and various other global health challenges.

These partners are now at the forefront of the COVID-19 response in Africa, bringing their experience and leadership to bear on current health challenges, while building sustainability through training future leaders in the region. Partnerships between universities, both nationally and globally, can also help overcome funding shortages by utilising one another’s resources and expertise.

The ARISE Network brings together partners from across Sub-Saharan Africa and includes institutions in the United States and Europe, promoting South-South and North-South collaborations. University linkages between countries, such as the training programme at Peking University in China for Sub-Saharan African students, further strengthen capacities and allow for cross-learning and education.

In addition, the success of African university leadership in various partnership models has encouraged additional support from national governments and the private sector, increasing domestic funding for research and training.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund in Nigeria, for example, is providing significant funding for research and investing in infrastructure at tertiary education institutions in the country.

The unique strengths of universities have been called upon as never before during COVID-19 and will only become increasingly important as the world braces for future pandemics and responds to emerging health challenges.

Harnessing partnerships can help to advance knowledge generation, training, NPHI collaborations and health communications, ensuring that our communities – both local and global – will be better prepared to prevent and respond to future outbreaks and to promote overall public health and well-being.

Dr Ayoade MJ Oduola is based at University of Ibadan Research Foundation, Ibadan, Nigeria. Chelsey R Canavan is based at the department of global health and population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Olufunmilayo I Fawole is professor of epidemiology and the current dean of the faculty of public health at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and Wafaie Fawzi is the Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Sciences at Harvard University Center for African Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.