Mental health research initiative grows pool of scientists

Six universities in Africa are continuing an African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI) to strengthen a network of researchers whose scientific work focuses on mental, neurological and substance use disorders (MNS).

Following the first phase, which ran from 2015-22, a second phase (AMARI-II) has been launched recently and will run up to 2027.

The institutions that form part of the consortium are the universities of Cape Town (South Africa), Zimbabwe, Zambia, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Ghana as well as Malawi’s Kamuzu University of Health Sciences.

The AMARI initiative is being undertaken under the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training, and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa), a programme of the Science for Africa Foundation.

In an interview with University World News, Professor Dixon Chibanda, the director of AMARI-II, said it aims to shift the centre of gravity in global mental health by ensuring that African scientists also become leaders in mental health research, training and implementation.

He said specific programme objectives include developing a cohort of independent research leaders through a network of early- and mid-career researchers within the DELTAS Africa programme, which will raise US$5 million for research and capacity-building.

Other objectives include providing the research skills required to take to scale promising initiatives under AMARI-I and new initiatives under AMARI-II, and to train 85 research fellows – 18 at masters level, 24 PhDs and 10 post-doctoral researchers in excellence and leadership – as well as to provide 33 internships to key policy stakeholders at local, national and regional level.

Milestones

Chibanda said African universities have benefited from the first phase of the initiative and have managed to build a pool of supervisors in MNS academia in the continent’s institutions.

For instance, faculty members in the relevant fields in AMARI institutions in Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe have been equipped with the necessary skills to enable them to adopt or develop culturally appropriate mental health interventions that meet the specific needs of their African communities.

“AMARI has also enabled networks of early-career researchers who are now winning mental health research grants as independent researchers for their institutions,” said Chibanda.

According to him, AMARI-I fellows have raised close to US$1 million through independent and seed grants.

Other milestones from the first phase include about 90 high-impact publications in reputable journals and the training of 48 research fellows (19 masters, 24 PhDs and five post-docs) in mental, neurological and substance misuse disorders.

Chibanda said the initiative is establishing sustainable partnerships involving policymakers and other key non-researchers to drive policy changes informed by research findings.

Another aim is to integrate culturally appropriate MNS research in existing and newly funded research initiatives that seek to address relevant Sustainable Development Goals across Africa and build capacity in institutions through transferring programmes such as the masters programme to three new AMARI-II countries over three years and introducing a post-doctoral programme in Zimbabwe.

The Science for Africa Foundation said in a statement that a particular focus is on AMARI-II’s collective ability to introduce interventions that reduce the treatment gap for mental health disorders in Africa.

It said areas of research include assessing neuro-cognitive disorders associated with HIV, interventions in emergency room settings for alcohol and drug misuse and the impact of maternal depression on mother-to-child HIV transmission.

The initiative is supported by the Wellcome Trust and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.