Research Hub Structure
ADMIN CORE
The role of the admin core is to harmonize and streamline administrative, financial, and communication processes for INFORM Africa, and the selection of pilot projects consistent with the hub’s aims and in compliance with DS-I Africa requirements. The admin core also ensures the integration of ethical and regulatory best practices into the operations of the consortium that is culturally relevant to ethical norms in the two African countries.
DMAC
DMAC leads data sharing efforts with the Open Science Data Platform and coordinating center (OSDP &CC) and other DS-I Africa funded projects. The core manages the Hub’s existing data on SARS-CoV-2 and HIV through the Terra workspace that enables INFORM Africa researchers and others to take advantage of large datasets in the cloud; and generates additional data through its NGS as needed.
PROJECT 1
Project 1 focuses on how viral genomic variation; adoption of public health mitigation measures and mobility patterns contribute to spatially and temporally explicit pathways of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at local and regional scales.
PROJECT 2
Project 2 examines the effect of movement-based restrictions on mobility in Nigeria and South Africa, comparing pre-pandemic and post-pandemic patterns in cell phone mobility data and connecting specific movement patterns with COVID-19 risk. This model incorporates state-of-the-art mobility analytics from the transportation sector, applying them to the African context, possibly for the first time.
PROJECT 3
Project 3 studies the interplay between SARS-CoV-2 and HIV in the two countries most impacted by the syndemics in Africa- South Africa and Nigeria. It investigates to what extent shared geospatial; mobility and demographics factors affect risk of both infections and how each infection affects the outcomes of the other, and whether the host genetic variation in Africa explains the apparently more favorable outcomes in Africa of COVID-19.
PILOT PROJECTS
The goal of the pilot projects is to broaden the research objectives of the hub by including projects that assess the effects of climate change on health, and projects that explore additional pathogens beyond SARS-CoV-2 and HIV. Additionally, the pilot projects seek to extend the geographical scope of INFORM Africa’s research focus to additional regions in Africa with the purpose of generating new data to bear on already existing data.
In December 2022, the INFORM Africa research hub published a call for letters of interest (LOIs), and subsequently conducted a series of reviews to select applicants eligible for a full proposal submission. The pilot projects are intended to run for a period of 12 months, with total funding of $30,000 for each project selected.
