NORA contributes to improving cancer prevention and care in Sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on continuous cancer surveillance through registries and intervention programs in the communities, at the primary health care level including community workers, and oncologic care. Cancer is responsible for estimated 533,000 regional deaths annually, with a steep increase expected in the region. Women are disproportionately affected since breast and cervical cancer are most common.
NORA involves scientists who have been working together in cancer research in different ways for many years and aims at building capacity for the next generation of scientists and cancer professionals in Africa. Academic institutions from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa together with the African Cancer Registry Network link with the Martin-Luther-University and the Charité Universitätsmedizin in Germany. NORA will build on current WHO Global Cancer Initiatives that have recently defined targets to improve breast and cervical cancer care, align with national cancer control plans and move forward to generating evidence on efficient and effective strategies to implement cancer control in Africa. Both existing and new population-based and hospital-based registries will collect critically informative data on, e.g., stage at diagnosis, time to and completeness of treatment. Qualitative studies about socio-cultural and environmental factors in the community will feed into and support the ongoing development of awareness campaigns, health system strengthening, and patient navigation in multi-country cluster-randomized trials.
NORA collaborates closely with the Ministries of Health in all participating countries. Interventions will be assessed quantitatively, improved, and will contribute to knowledge about better care and eventually better outcome of cancer patients in participating countries.
NORA is funded by the BMBF and is part of RHISSA (Research Networks for Health Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa).
Steering Committee
Prof. Adamu Addissie - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Prof. Dr. Eva Kantelhardt - Halle, Germany
Dr. Maureen Joffe - Johannesburg, South Africa
Dr. Blandina Mmbaga - Tanzania
Dr. Elima Jedy-Agba - Institute of Human Virology, Abuja, Nigeria
Dr. Mathewos Assefa - African Cancer Registry Network, Ethiopia
PD Dr. Andreas M. Kaufmann - Berlin, Germany
Capacity Building
| Track | Course Name | Tutor | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mastery Capacity Building | M01. Basic Statistics | Pablo Santos (MLU, Germany) | January 2024 |
| Mastery Capacity Building | M26. Cancer Registration | Mazvita Muchengeti (South Africa) | February 2024 |
| Leadership to Independence | L05. Funding Opportunities & Grant-Making | Temitope Olukomogbon (IHV, Nigeria) | January 2024 |
| Leadership to Independence | L03. Sophisticated Ethics Applications | Adamu Addissie (AAU, Ethiopia) | February 2024 |
| Track | Course Name | Tutor | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mastery Capacity Building | M0. Statistics & Research Methods | Pablo Santos (MLU, Germany) | April 2023 |
Addis Ababa University
MoreAddis Ababa University
College of Health Sciences
KCRI
KCRI
The Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) is an academic centre for evidence based health interventions
Institute of Human Virology
Institute of Human Virology
The IHV promotes collaborative research in diseases of relevance to the local community, non-communicable diseases and emerging infectious diseases
HALLE UNIVERSITY & CHARITÉ BERLIN
HALLE UNIVERSITY & CHARITÉ BERLIN
The Global Health workgroup of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg acts as a hub to connect clinical medicine, basic laboratory research, public health, epidemiology, statistics and social sciences.
The Charité is one of Germany's most research-intensive medical institutions.
Wits Health Consortium
Wits Health Consortium
The Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Limited of the University of the Witwatersrand conducts research, manages donor-funded activities, pursues entrepreneurial innovation in health and supports clinical trials
African Cancer Registry Network
African Cancer Registry Network
The AFCRN aims to improve the effectiveness of cancer surveillance in sub Saharan Africa by providing expert evaluation of current problems and technical support to remedy identified barriers, with long-term goals of strengthening health systems and creating research platforms for the identification of problems, priorities, and targets for intervention.