By Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan

The Director General of Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Professor Babatunde Salako, has explained and reiterated why south-south collaborations need to be pursued if the aims of global health is to be achieved.

This was during his talk at the 2018 Global Health Network conference which held on the 30^th and 31^st of January 2018 at the Sickle Cell Centre, Idi-Araba, Lagos.

He noted that global health involves collaboration that prioritises equity in health for all people. For him, food (in)security, trade in health damaging products (tobacco, arms, toxic waste), governance, war and conflict are some of the issues global health should address.

He noted that south-south collaboration is an evolving practice but has been largely limited by the invisibility of expertise/excellence in developing nations. South–South research collaboration could slow however, down the current pace of exodus of talented scientists and researchers from the South to the North.

Some potential areas of South -South collaboration includes interfaculty/ inter-institutional collaborations, networking (conferences), mentorship and training in new technologies.

Dr. Elima Jedy-Agba noted that at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, efforts have been made to leverage on their North-South collaborations to try to promote South -South collaborations.

One of such efforts, according to her, has been through setting up a world-class laboratory that can do genomic analysis and molecular biology. She identified significant benefits in many of the south-south collaborations they have tried to promote.

Dr Gbenga Ogunfowokan reiterated that actions need to be taken to encourage more South-South collaborations. At the Global Health Trials Network, platforms were created to promote south-south collaborations. Private sector engagement in research can also help facilitate such collaboration.

Ms Olayide Akanni who facilitated the session, asked for further considerations for West Africa where such South -South collaborations could be most beneficial.

This will require bridging the language barrier.  But concerted efforts are required to politically commit to such laudable agendas said Professor Salako.

The forthcoming third GET conference on bio-security scheduled to hold later in the year in Sierra Leone may be one of the many gateways to promote South-South collaborative research in West Africa.

Folayan is of New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society