25 April 2021.
The ISEG Postgraduate Training Fellowship in Medical Statistics for African Scientists launched in 2005 and forms a key part of ISEG’s investment in capacity strengthening. The Scheme enables promising research students from Sub-Saharan Africa to undertake MSc training in Medical Statistics at LSHTM followed by a year working as a statistician at one of our partner centres in Africa. The fellow continues to receive mentoring, supervision and support for the duration of their fellowship from members of our Group.
The summer project, chosen by the fellow, often provides an introduction to the research topic to be pursued further during the placement year. During the placement year, the fellow is exposed to different aspects of research including study design, data management, analysis and reporting of findings. They are guided by local statisticians and researchers as well as relevant ISEG members.
As the second wave of COVID-19 sweeps across Africa, bringing steep increases in infections and deaths, the battle between facts and conspiracies – especially around the safety of COVID vaccines – has also intensified.
For anyone who has worked on crop improvement in Africa over the last three decades, the flood of misinformation around vaccines evokes an eerie sense of déjà vu. It is reminiscent of the aggressively anti Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) campaign that has stalled Africa’s efforts to improve the productivity and nutrition of key crops over the past three decades. Those of us working in the GMO field grossly underestimated the power of the misinformation campaign against it.