“We have the diseases in Africa, but they have the expertise in Europe (…), I wish there was a reverse — not that the diseases come to Europe, no — but that the same level of expertise, equipment, and capacity becomes available in Africa.”

With this reflection, Prof. Mustapha Umar Imam, Professor of biochemistry and Director of the Centre for Vaccine Research and Biotechnology at the Federal University of Lafia, Nigeria captured one of the central tensions he observed during the closing week of the AU-EU Health Partnership – a programme designed to strengthen research on mpox and Lassa fever.

During his stay at Pompeu Fabra University, Mustapha was particularly inspired by the hands-on approach of his supervisor Prof. Andreas Meyerhans. Fellows followed a meticulous schedule that included daily virtual meetings and frequent presentations on their ongoing work. What initially felt demanding soon proved valuable. The constant feedback loop accelerated their understanding of Lassa fever and mpox and even challenged assumptions about the diseases they thought they knew well prior to going to Barcelona.

For Mustapha, this experience further fuelled his interest in Lassa fever. He even shared that he learned more about the virus during his two-week stay in Barcelona than anywhere else. It also prompted deeper reflection on how such expertise and capacity could be cultivated within Nigeria. As he joked “we have the diseases in Africa, but they have the expertise in Europe (…), I wish there was a reverse — not that the diseases come to Europe, no — but that the same level of expertise, equipment, and capacity becomes available in Africa.”

He stressed that translational research must strengthen not only Africa-Europe collaboration but also intra-Africa collaboration. Drawing from his experience, Mustapha called for African countries to build research ecosystems that are adapted to local realities, including infrastructure and funding constraints. The network he developed through the AU-EU Health Partnership, he noted, is already laying groundwork for future collaboration, from aiming to secure joint grant applications to establishing shared research pipelines.

Thinking aloud, he imagined a future where a discovery made in Nigeria could be rapidly validated by colleagues from across the continent (Ghana, for example) be tested and eventually taken up by pharmaceutical companies for large-scale production. Joint funding, he added, could help build the research infrastructure needed to make this vision a reality.

The fellowship also reshaped his understanding on the importance of how discoveries can be translated from lab to market to ensure they have an impact within society. “You need to design your research in such a way that, right from the outside, you’re thinking of making an impact,” he reflected.

Another key lesson from the fellowship was the importance of engaging not only regulators and policymakers but also communities. “If we don’t talk to the people that matter and the regulators, for example, policymakers and even people in the community, we cannot make a discovery,” he said. He pointed to the persistent challenge of vaccine hesitancy in Africa. Even when vaccines are free, many people refuse them because they feel disconnected from the research process or distrust the institutions behind it. Corruption within African governments but also within African universities, poses the single most important barrier to scientific productivity on the continent, in his view. “With enough funding, universities will be able to expand, do more in terms of disease response, and study diseases that are endemic to Africa, such as Lassa fever”.