As part of the multi-center Phase IIIb/IV PYRAMAX trial involving Central Africa countries (Cameroon, Rep of Congo, Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo) it was necessary to train or strengthen regulatory authorities in their Pharmacovigilance competence under the leadership of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit and Pharmacovigilance (UPC-PV) from the university of Kinshasa.

Due to the fact that all the CANTAM countries are not at the same level of competence, UPC-PV has set up targeted training to meet up with the needs of each country.

It is in this context that stakeholders meeting involving National regulatory authorities of Cameroon, Rep of Congo and Gabon respectively and CANTAM members coordinated by Prof. Gauthier MESIA KAHUNU was organized. This activity contributes to encourage ownership.

At the different sites, the gaps were identified and the appropriate framework for the implementation that will be conducted during the second phase was established. Specifically, this second phase will consist of Human resources training workshops.

The work plan for the second phase of CANTAM on clinical research capacity building and development has also as deliverable, the implementation of new technologies that could boost development of activities within the network and spread to others in a sustainable way. The 3D printing is one of the new technology selected for this package in view of its creativity, gain in time and production cost.

On February 20th 2018, it was held in the conference Hall of the Olympic Hotel Palace a seminar on the theme, “Fighting Malaria with CRISPR/Cas9 : Ethical Implications” with the aim of expressing an African voice in the context of the development of genome editing technologies with the main focus and theme of eliminating malaria.

The University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) had the pleasure to organize the 7th Pan African Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) in April 2018. Twenty years after the MIM Meeting, Dakar had the honour to host this prestigious malaria conference where they adopted the theme “Dakar II: two decades of progress, challenges and perspectives in ending Malaria”.

The 7th MIM conference served as an opportunity to review MIM’s 20 years of contribution to the global goal of ending malaria in Africa, to better address current malaria research and control priorities.

Leading and emerging malaria researchers were provided with a platform to show case their research findings, share experiences and novel ideas as well as establish new research collaborations. Young scientists were exposed to ask questions and interact with malaria experts.

CANATAM was in the same booth with the EDCTP where excited and curious researchers wanted to know exactly what CANTAM is doing and how they could be part. Léonard NUMFOR(Project Manager) Leonard provided some explanations, coupled with the flyers provided and shared which they could visit the sites.