Another SEK 6 million for research into HIV and tuberculosis in Ethiopia

By katrin [dot] stahl [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (Katrin Ståhl) - published 2 November 2021

picture of the The entrance to the research station in the city of Adama in Ethiopia, where Per Björkman and Patrik Medstrand have been based since 2010. The research station is built together with Ethiopian researchers and healthcare organizations. Photo. — The entrance to the research station in the city of Adama in Ethiopia, where Per Björkman and Patrik Medstrand have been based since 2010. The research station is built together with Ethiopian researchers and healthcare organizations.

In 2017, the Faculty of Medicine received a private donation targeted at a team of researchers studying infectious diseases and public health in low-income countries, specifically HIV and tuberculosis in Ethiopia. This research team is now to receive an additional SEK 6 million to develop its research activities.

The new donation is targeted at continued research into tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. As with the donation four years ago, Per Björkman, Professor of Clinical Infection Medicine, and Patrik Medstrand, Professor of Clinical Virology, are behind the research projects. They are now receiving very welcome additional funding of SEK 6 million to develop research in the field of global health.

In Ethiopia, the researchers have been based in the city of Adama and its surrounding area since 2010, where they, together with Ethiopian researchers and healthcare organisations, have built up a research station. It is here that data is collected, processed and analysed within a spectrum of subject areas of relevance to global health. This may include, for example, how the handling of HIV and TB at health centres in low-income countries can be improved, and an investigation into how resistant forms of HIV are being spread in the population.

Per Björkman and Patrik Medstrand explain that the donation from 2017 has been crucial on several levels for a stable, long-term establishment of the research station and for relationships and collaborations with organisations and government agencies such as the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and the Armauer Hansen Research Institute, a biomedical research institute in Addis Ababa.

What has the donation meant so far?

“The donation has been absolutely crucial in terms of progressing the research. It’s made it possible to expand activities to embrace new, bigger research projects. The donation has also made it possible to recruit several new doctoral students from both Ethiopia and Sweden.
Indirectly, the donation has also created opportunities for other research groups at Lund University to launch research projects in Ethiopia. This joint network will now be developed to establish a permanent platform and infrastructure for research in Ethiopia.”

The new donation means that the extensive and hitherto productive activities can continue and develop, while at the same time new investigations can begin. Among other things, it will be possible to continue and expand an ongoing study into TB in women and children in order to identify immunological mechanisms for TB. Also on the agenda is a new HIV study that is to run for several years, within the framework of which researchers will investigate the spread of HIV, map out resistance to antiviral drugs and develop new diagnostic methods for measuring the amount of virus and the occurrence of concomitant TB in people with HIV.

“This donation is immensely important to us on several levels, including the fact that projects can also be carried out for students at different levels. Down the years, we’ve reinforced collaborations with Ethiopian researchers and organisations, which we can now consolidate and develop even further. It also continues to provide good opportunities for students at Lund University to carry out master’s projects in global health with links to the research station.”

Per Björkman and Patrik Medstrand together with research colleagues in Adama. (Photo: private).

What are the biggest challenges?

“There are challenges of course, but also a host of opportunities. Running wide-ranging projects outside Sweden is one challenge – which requires administrative coordination at different levels. We hope to be able to resolve this by establishing a coordinator at Lund University who will have links with the research station in Adama, which is also used by other research groups. Another challenge is uncertainty about the political situation in the country – a recurring issue when it comes to projects in low-income countries. We can resolve this through good, strong contacts with Ethiopian participants that have been established over the past decade. Securing these activities for a long time to come is also a challenge, as this is necessary for large, long-term projects. This donation provides important opportunities to achieve this.”

The UN aims to eradicate HIV and AIDS by 2030. Do you think this is feasible?

“Yes, it’s not entirely unreasonable. There’s been plenty of progress due to intensive research and the development of drugs. But the goal is not to eradicate HIV/AIDS, rather to eliminate the disease as a threat to public health. The same goal also applies to TB.”

Yet at the same time, Per Björkman believes there are many other reasons why there is uncertainty about whether the goal can be achieved – it depends, for example, on what progress is made in crucial areas of research, but also on whether the global community continues to invest resources and engagement in the issue, and does not consider HIV/AIDS to be a problem that has been virtually solved.

“During the pandemic, we’ve seen a reduced focus on health problems other than Covid-19. We’re already seeing the effects of this, such as a rise in the number of deaths from TB, which is a treatable disease, and there are also similar effects regarding HIV. In addition to these components, it’s crucial that barriers to HIV programs can be tackled – this applies to many distinct aspects, not least human rights in different regions of the world and discrimination against vulnerable groups, as well as the issue of sustained peace in affected areas. Armed conflicts often result in the elimination of any progress made and a dramatic worsening of access to healthcare.”

The importance of research also being conducted in other countries

Many major providers of funds for research specify that research must be conducted in Sweden, and do not allow grants to be used for research in other countries.

“These rules automatically result in research with a focus on global health receiving less funding – even though such projects are often more expensive and complex. Donations such as the one we’ve received provide totally new opportunities to carry out long-term projects with high relevance to global health and development.”

About the global health donation campaign

Within the framework of the Faculty of Medicine’s fundraising initiative, a donation campaign was launched in 2015 for global health research. The campaign has had two focus areas – one aimed at women, children and adolescents, and one aimed at infectious diseases. In 2017, the Faculty of Medicine received a private donation of SEK 8 million over three years for research into infectious diseases and public health in Ethiopia. Now, in 2021, the Faculty of Medicine is to receive an additional SEK 6 million.