International West Africa Symposium and Workshop on Infectious Diseases

项目摘要 西非国家因艾滋病毒、疟疾、结核病等传染病而受到巨大影响， 拉沙、埃博拉和登革热。尽管基础和临床研究具有高度相关性， 由于缺乏患者来源的样本和数据，16个西非国家中的大多数落后于发达国家， 非洲国家和许多其他非洲国家在防治这些流行病方面发挥了重要作用。因此，人们越来越认识到， 增加西非科学家的机会，特别是来自非洲国家的科学家， 与加纳和尼日利亚等其他国家相比，塞拉利昂的进展较慢。一个目标 是让他们更多地参与基础和临床研究，无论是作为独立的研究人员，还是作为 国际联盟和合作。然而，到目前为止，几乎没有机会将整个 西非传染病研究社区与其他非洲国家的主要研究人员一起 以及更远的地方为此，我们提议举行第一次西非国际专题讨论会和讲习班， 在塞拉利昂的弗里敦进行传染病研究。这次会议有四个具体目标。一是 旨在将塞拉利昂的国际传染病界聚集在一起， 对一些与本区域高度相关的主要病原体进行疾病研究。为了实现这一目标，我们 计划由来自非洲的该领域的许多主要专家发表一系列主旨演讲和全体会议演讲， 世界各地，沿着海报会议，从海报摘要和其他活动中选出的演讲，包括 实地考察由于这一领域的挑战令人生畏，需要共同努力加以解决， 目标是加强不同群体之间的互动，如学术基础科学，流行病学， 临床和转化科学，以及非政府和政府机构。为此我们 特别邀请代表这些团体的与会者，并举行会议，以促进知识交流 和合作。第三个目标是带来实践培训和研讨会，我们的团队是独一无二的。 定位提供。为此，将举办为期几天的研讨会，由专家授课， 与塞拉利昂当地了解当地需求的小组成员密切合作。第四 目标是通过支持有前途的年轻学员，在智力和财政上对未来进行投资。目标 是通过以下方式提供智力支持，鼓励学员取得成功并留在实地工作， 与资深科学家的讨论和指导，海报会议，发言机会，表彰 他们的成就，并提供财政支持，有竞争力的旅行奖。预期成果 在不同学科工作的科学家之间的合作增加，年轻科学家的保留， 该领域，确定新的机会，以网格基础和临床研究，并探索新的 研究传染病的方法和防治传染病的战略。

PROJECT SUMMARY West African countries suffer enormous impacts due to infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, Lassa, Ebola and Dengue. Despite the high relevance of basic and clinical research studies and the abundant availability of patient-derived samples and data, most of the sixteen West African nations lag behind developed nations and many other African nations in combating these epidemics. As a result, it is increasingly recognized that there is great value in increasing opportunities for West African scientists, particularly from countries such as Sierra Leone, which have been slower to progress as compared to others like Ghana and Nigeria. One goal is to have them participate more in basic and clinical research, both as independent researchers and as part of international consortia and collaborations. Until now, however, there has been little opportunity to bring the entire West African infectious disease research community together with leading researchers from other African nations and beyond. For this reason, we propose to hold the first International West Africa Symposium and Workshop on Infectious Diseases in Freetown, Sierra Leone. There are four specific objectives of this meeting. First, we aim to bring together the international infectious disease community in Sierra Leone to facilitate infectious disease research on a number of key pathogens highly relevant to the region. To accomplish this goal, we are planning a series of keynote and plenary speakers from many leading experts in the field from within Africa and around the world, along with a poster session, talks selected from poster abstracts and other activities including a site visit. Since the challenges in this field are daunting and will require collaborative efforts to solve, a second goal is to enhance interactions between diverse groups, such as academic basic science, epidemiological, clinical and translational science, as well as non-governmental and governmental institutions. To this end, we are specifically inviting participants representing these groups, with sessions to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaborations. A third objective is to bring hands-on training and workshops that our team is uniquely positioned to provide. To this end, there will be several days of workshops taught by experts and developed in close collaboration with team members on the ground in Sierra Leone, who understand the local needs. A fourth objective is to invest intellectually and financially in the future by supporting promising young trainees. The goal is to encourage trainees to be successful and stay in the field by providing intellectual support through discussions and mentorship with senior scientists, poster sessions, opportunities to speak, awards that recognize their achievements, and by providing financial support with competitive travel awards. The expected outcomes are increased collaborations between scientists working in different disciplines, retention of young scientists in the field, identification of new opportunities to mesh basic and clinical research, and exploration of new approaches for the study of infectious diseases and strategies to combat them.