“The diseases are in Africa, we should not wait for Europeans to bring us money before we tackle these diseases, especially Lassa fever,”

Dr. Irene Owusu Donkor, Senior Research Fellow at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), Ghana and epidemiologist, reflected on the power of building scientific networks during the closing week of the AU-EU Health Partnership – a programme designed to strengthen research on mpox and Lassa fever.

Visiting laboratories and engaging with peers at Makerere University reminded Irene of a persistent challenge: African researchers often work in isolation, even within the same institution. She emphasised that this siloed approach limits the continent’s scientific impact. To change this, she believes African researchers must “build networks amongst ourselves” so that research is no longer a “one-man show”. Stronger connections would not only help address shared scientific challenges but also increase the visibility and influence of African-led research. “We could build an East-West Africa partnership to study the different Mpox strains circulating across the region and understand what is driving the disease in different populations.” 

Irene emphasised how Lassa fever and mpox have been prevalent in Africa for decades yet only gained global urgency once they appeared in Europe. Africa, she argued, must strengthen its own collaborative systems to respond swiftly to outbreaks and prevent them from spreading beyond the continent demonstrating to the Western world that African institutions and researchers can lead their own epidemic responses. But this requires support from politicians and policymakers who must be ready to act decisively when the next outbreak emerges.

For early-career researchers, she stressed the importance of exchanging observations, sharing preliminary findings, and forming cross-country partnerships. Such a collaboration would help generate the early data needed to secure funding from African governments since funding is often inaccessible without initial evidence, forcing researchers to rely on Western partners.

Yet, South-South collaboration faces practical barriers. High shipping costs, limited data-sharing, unreliable internet access and inconsistent electricity supply could hinder joint research efforts. These challenges, she noted, could be mitigated through joint grant applications and coordinated investment in research infrastructure.

During her research stay at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, Irene deepened her practical skills in bioinformatics and next-generation sequencing. She also encountered innovative in-house Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methods used to diagnose Mpox, techniques that were significantly cheaper than commercial kits. These locally developed methods, she suggested, could be refined into a new diagnostic kit and manufactured on the continent. Currently, many African laboratories import expensive kits from abroad, even though the core reagents could be readily available. “So, we need to make sure the infrastructure required to do the work is in place,” she said. “Only then can we truly build something together and strengthen South-South collaboration.“

Meet Irene

Dr. Irene Owusu Donkor is a distinguished Senior Research Fellow at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and a specialist in the epidemiology of emerging viral pathogens. Her research has utilised retrospective serological analysis to prove that Mpox was circulating silently in Ghanaian communities years before the official 2022 outbreak. Furthermore, her studies on Lassa fever address the critical intersection of household transmission and co-infection risks, providing data essential for national health policy.
 
Research focus: Developing an early warning system for Mpox outbreaks
 
Host institutions
– Makerere University – Supervisor: Prof. Damalie Nakanjako
– University of Ibadan – Supervisor: Dr. Adeola Fowotade
– Pompeu Fabra University – Supervisor: Prof. Andreas Meyerhans
– University of Bern – Supervisor: Prof. Carmen Faso