Abstract. The heavy burden of communicable diseases on the African continent is largely made up of
HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. This trio of diseases alone is creating societal and economic
instability in most African countries across all age groups, and particularly in children. Most recent
estimates by UNAIDS of the global burden of HIV are that 39 million people are currently living with HIV-
1 infection, 25.6 million of whom reside in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The implementation of anti-retroviral
therapy for people living with HIV (PLWH) comes with complications of costs and iatrogenic effects of
drugs, and it is not a long-term solution to stop the epidemic in SSA. HIV prevention remains critical to
turn the tide of HIV infections and an effective vaccine against HIV-1 is desperately needed. More
recently, passive immunization clinical trials have explored infusion of broadly neutralizing antibodies as
an alternative HIV infection prevention strategy to pre-exposure prophylaxis with anti-retroviral drugs.
Similar, new and innovative efforts are required to develop prevention strategies that would mitigate the
HIV-1 co-morbidities of TB and malaria.
In accordance with the 2019 NIH NOT-OD-20-018 and PA21-151 that support research training of the
workforce, in this application, we propose to train young scientists in Africa to fill the gap in ongoing
efforts to build scientific literacy and skills for career development to the next generation of
African scientists. As the NIH is sponsoring several basic research projects as well as clinical prevention
trials in Africa, we believe that the proposed Infectious Disease in Africa: Training Symposium for the
next generation of African scientists (IDA) will lead to increased scientific knowledge and will help building
future scientific leaders on the continent. Building on the previous 11 IDA symposia, we now propose a
further set of symposia, where the overarching aims are: 1) To provide cutting-edge knowledge in
the fields of HIV passive immunization and vaccine development and implementation for malaria
and TB prevention. 2) To provide events that can enhance career development of the next
generation of African scientists, including grant writing, poster and oral presentation skills,
networking and community engagement. The IDA training symposia will take place in Stellenbosch
(Cape Town, South Africa) and each will leverage on the most recent reported results of the ongoing
passive immunization and vaccine efficacy clinical trials for HIV-1, TB, and Malaria. Our efforts will comply
with the selection of participants to respect gender balance, opportunity for minorities and inclusivity of
diverse sexual orientations.