RECAP-SL is a €250,000 funded project under the 2nd European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP2) programme.
This 2-year project started in August 2016, and is led by the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in Freetown, Sierra Leone in partnership with the Health Systems and Workforce Strengthening Team and the Capacity Research Unit in LSTM.
Ebola has highlighted the need for responsive and resilient health systems within and beyond Sierra Leone. Development of health systems should be informed by policies based on evidence. Health research capacity in Sierra Leone is currently weak, and there is a need for sustainable approaches to building capacity for national multi-disciplinary health research in country.
Building on work by the DfID funded ReBUILD research programme, the project aims to establish a research centre within the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences that will serve as a research coordinating centre, and lead on health systems research and capacity strengthening within Sierra Leone and deliver credible, relevant research for effective policy making and practice. This will be done through:
- Applying a tested and robust approach to research capacity assessment and capacity building;
- Strengthening the existing research capacity at COMAHS;
- Developing and retaining the next generation of multi-disciplinary health researchers;
- Supporting the newly introduced Masters in Public Health at COMAHS to include a strong focus on clinical research and health systems; and
- Providing support for the Sierra Leone Ethics and Scientific Review Committee