CSIR tuberculosis researcher elected to prestigious European partnership

9 April 2008

Dr Hulda Swai

CSIR principal researcher Dr Hulda Swai has been elected to an international committee of prominent African scientists and professionals that advises on three main poverty-related diseases: HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.

Swai joined the Developing Countries Coordinating Committee (DCCC) of the European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) in March this year. The DCCC is an independent advisory body to EDCTP of prominent African scientists and health professionals.

The goal of the DCCC is to strengthen policy debate and contribute to strategy from African experts and countries. It ensures the participation and commitment of African countries and researchers and as such provides input to the strategy of EDCTP by collective advice from scientists of developing countries to the Partnership Board (PB), the Secretariat and the Assembly.

The DCCC develops strategies and actions to improve coordination between its members, and with other partners participating in EDCTP, including governments and international organisations. Such actions can include:

• Promoting the creation and networking of national programmes for clinical trials for HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) in Africa
• Creating and promoting an African forum of concerned scientists and experts
• Liaising with health authorities and relevant developing countries' national programmes
• Collecting opinions from and disseminating information to scientists from developing countries
• Interacting with the World Health Organization and other regional organisations by mutually attending relevant meetings.

The EDCTP was created in 2003 as a European response to the global health crisis caused by the three main poverty-related diseases, HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis. These diseases account for over six million deaths each year, with the numbers growing. Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's worst-affected region where, besides ravaging lives, the diseases impede development and lead to poverty.

According to Swai, the EDCTP aims to accelerate the development of new or improved drugs, vaccines and microbicides against these diseases, with a focus on Phase II and III clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa.

Her involvement in the CSIR's cutting-edge research aimed at addressing the TB treatment problem due to non-compliance of patients through nanotechnology, will bring another dimension to the group. Swai, being at the forefront of the groundbreaking research will be able to inform the partnership on the latest research developments.

“Having worked in the field of TB and other related infectious diseases, I am in the fortunate position to provide input to the strategy of EDCTP,” she says.

The CSIR's nanotechnology-based drug delivery system for TB treatment, which is capable of slowly releasing the drug in a controlled and sustained manner within the cells by improving dose frequency through a nano-drug delivery system, is currently in the preclinical trial phase.

Swai's appointment to the committee will further enhance expansion of the TB network within Africa and in the developed world.

- Source: CSIR