Collaboration Aims to Tackle Africa's "Most Vexing Health Challenges"

  Elsevier (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), have established a partnership to “fight the root causes of some of Africa's most vexing health challenges”, including diarrhea and infectious diseases, which leave millions of people dying or severely diminished every year.

      As part of the agreement, the Elsevier Foundation has awarded a $300,000 partnership grant to Epicentre's Niger Research Center which was founded in 2009 to produce high-quality and high-impact studies aimed at transforming medical practice. The African-led research center focuses on adapted, concrete responses to diarrheal diseases, malnutrition and malaria.    The three-year partnership will support the development of Epicentre's medical and scientific staff training and mentoring and aims to boost the Center's overall visibility through a "Scientific Day" Conference to be held in Niger.   The joint Collaboration Agreement represents a cooperative effort between four organizations: Doctors without Borders, Epicentre (Doctors without Borders' research and training arm), the Elsevier Foundation (Elsevier's corporate charity focused on global health and research capacity building) and Elsevier.