Abstract
The poster will highlight the disparity in the number of Drugs For Neglected Diseases initiative's partnerships with organizations based in African countries compared to those based in the Western world. Out of the nine diseases that DNDi focuses on, seven of them (Human African trypanosomiasis, Visceral Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, River Blindness, Malaria, Mycetoma, and Paediatric HIV) are endemic to at least one African country. However, the majority of partners that DNDI works with to develop and distribute drugs to treat these diseases are based outside of Africa. The difference in the location of these partner organizations is extremely profound in the early phases of drug development. African partners make up 1.19% of DNDI’s Drug Discovery ( phase 1) partnerships and 6.06% of their Translation Research (phase 2) partnerships. The majority of partners in these two phases are either classified as Academic Institutions or Pharmaceutical Enterprises. This practice therefore excludes the important perspective and first hand knowledge of African academic institutions and pharmaceutical enterprises. Thus limiting the opportunities for African stakeholders to gain further experience in drug development, which would increase the region's capacity to collaborate and build capacity to innovate technologies addressing locally endemic diseases.
