Collaboration with Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Tanzania
Researchers and lecturers at Karolinska Institutet (KI) have been working with their counterparts at MUHAS for the past 35 years. During this period, more than 30 doctoral students from MUHAS have benefited from the collaboration, many of whom have successfully defended PhD and graduated thanks to the Sida-funded The Research Training Partnership programme and other funding.
Karolinska Institutet and MUHAS signed the first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 2009. The agreement has been renewed throughout the years, in connection to the five-year calls for funding, by the Sida Research Training Partnership Programme. The latest MOU was signed 2024 for the period 2024 to 2030. Through the collaboration, both universities have benefited through academic exchange, scientific output, joint training, and capacity strengthening.
MUHAS is the largest and oldest public health training institution in Tanzania. Several members of MUHAS management team have defended their doctoral theses at KI or at Uppsala University.
Collaboration financed by Sida
The present collaboration, partly funded through Sida, Research Training Partnership programme, is within the following areas:
- Getting the health system to deliver for mothers and babies in Tanzania. PI at KI: Claudia Hanson
- Strengthening the interventions for control and elimination of Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases as an Integral Part of Global Efforts for Poverty Reduction in Tanzania. PI at KI: Eleni Aklillu
- Research capacity strengthening for the control of HIV and Tuberculosis in Tanzania. PI at KI: Anna Mia Ekström
- Research Training and Innovation PI at KI: Asli Kulane/ Anna Mia Ekström
Examples of other collaborations
ALERT Action Leveraging Evidence to reduce perinatal Mortality and morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa
The aim of the project is to develop and evaluate a multifaceted intervention to strengthen the implementation of evidence-based interventions and responsive care and reduce in-facility perinatal mortality and morbidity through a multidisciplinary approach in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. The project is coordinated by Claudia Hanson
The Changemaker project
The aim is to promote jointly designed sustainable health interventions with young Changemakers for reduced risk of non-communicable diseases in cities in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania. 13 partner institutions in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Sweden, Germany, Finland and the United States are participating in the project. The project is funded by the European Commission, HADEA (No 101137359 a call for Interventions in city environments to reduce risk of non-communicable disease). Funded by Laerdal through FIGO (International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecology)
PI at KI: Claudia Hanson
PROFORMA
Proforma is an international collaboration project on pharmacovigilance – drugs safety – with researchers and experts from universities and regulatory authorities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, and some regional and international stakeholders in the field of drugs safety, funded by EU/EDCTP project. A new grant application is being submitted to E U/EDCTP 2025. PI is Eleni Aklillu
Examples of doctoral thesis resulting from collaboration
Novel Combination Chemotherapy for Treatment and Control of Schistosomiasis among School Children– A randomized clinical trial
The project is about the use of praziquantel in combination with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine to improve the treatment of intestinal schistosomiasis in school-age children. The study demonstrated higher healing and egg reduction rates compared to standard praziquantel treatment, while being safe, providing important input to policy changes, and the integration of combination therapy into mass drug administration programs to improve the control of schistosomiasis and accelerate progress towards elimination in endemic regions. A doctoral student from MUHAS graduated from KI 2024. PI and KI supervisor is Eleni Aklillu.
Optimizing Intermittent Preventive Therapy for Malaria in Pregnancy: A Randomized Clinical Trial
The effect of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHP) compared to standard sulvadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) for intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy (IPTp) in areas with high malaria prevalence, was investigated in a doctoral thesis, by a PhD student from MUHAS, who defended at KI 2021. The study found that DHP significantly reduced clinical malaria, placental parasitemia, and maternal anemia compared to SP, providing evidence-based recommendations for improving malaria prevention strategies during pregnancy. PI and KI supervisor is Eleni Aklillu.
EAPOC- Using point of care HIV viral load monitoring to improve viral load suppression among children and adolescents living with HIV in East Africa 2021-2025.
An EDCTP-funded project, which supports several KI-registered doctoral students from MUHAS, of which one student is also supervised by a former Tanzanian doctoral student from the MUHAS-KI program. This EDCTP consortium is the result of a decade-long collaboration on HIV in East Africa, including Tanzania, funded by the EU through several major EDCTP grants. Swedish PI Anna Mia Ekström.
It is an assessment of how knowledge can be used to find strategies for rapid diagnosis, rapid uptake of HIV treatment, increase adherence and testing for drug resistance among adolescent girls and young pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as through prophylaxis to HIV-exposed infants. The project is led by a new doctoral student Albert Magohe, who will be supervised by Tanzanian paediatrician Dr Helga Naburi, who defended her thesis at KI in the MUHAS-KI collaboration - one of many successful examples of how KI has contributed to building senior capacity at MUHAS. KI supervisor is Anna Mia Ekström
Applicants from MUHAS applying for doctoral courses at KI
The current Sida program supports students who registers at KI as well as those registering at MUHAS. To achieve the program’s objectives, from 2019 all the Sida-supported doctoral students from MUHAS will be regarded as KI doctoral students when applying for doctoral courses at KI. This is applicable for courses stipulated in the course catalogue.
For deadline for applications find information on Course catalogue and vacancies – doctoral courses. It is therefore important for the doctoral students from MUHAS to indicate the following statement in their application:
I am a Sida-financed PhD student at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in collaboration with KI and belong thus to the same selection group as doctoral students admitted to doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet.