The campaign provided an opportunity for policymakers, implementers, researchers, funders, and community groups who work on mycetoma and other NTDs to come together and deliberate, share best practice, decide on how to tackle these diseases and stay connected. Prof Melanie Newport, Co-director of the GHRU on NTDS at BSMS, attended the Mycetoma National Campaign that took place in November 2022, and PhD candidate Eiman Siddig shared this update with us.
Prof Melanie Newport began her trip to Sudan with a tour of MRC taking in the clinic and new departments, including the El Hassan Centre for Clinical Trials Research and the Mycetoma Vocational Training and Entrepreneurship Center ‘SAAI’D’.
She also attended the inaugural meeting of MYRA, the recently established Mycetoma Young Researchers Association which is a global forum for national and international young researchers in mycetoma who aim to work together to improve mycetoma patients’ quality of life.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the campaign was hosted at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Sudan on the 24th of November 2022. It comprised of different speeches from national and international delegates and the honouring of the mycetoma 2022 Ambassadors.
Prof Newport said a few words on behalf of the international delegates highlighting the ongoing burden of NTDs and the need for equitable international multidisciplinary research partnerships to realise the ambition articulated in the 2022 Kigali Declaration to end the suffering caused by NTDs. She also emphasized the importance of investing in the next generation of researchers.
The mycetoma conference involved activities across two days on 26th and 27th November 2022. The first day was the mycetoma update symposium which showcased all research projects delivered by MRC and international collaborators. Our NIHR GHRU Research Fellows presented their research projects alongside other PhD colleagues representing MRC’s young researchers.
Prof Newport gave an overview of the NIHR GHRU Phase 2 aims and activities (2021-2026) as well as reporting on the achievements of its first phase of funding (2017-2021). The second day brought together national physicians, programme managers and coordinators from the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization working on NTDs to focus on the integrated skin NTD management framework.
The meeting closed with the signing of the Khartoum Call for Action for an integrated approach to the management of skin NTDs by delegates present at the meeting. To read all campaign activities please visit the MRC website.
Other activities in Sudan
The most inspiring part of the trip was the opportunity to travel to Sinnar State and visit the Wad Onsa Mycetoma Satellite Centre and find a chance to engage with patients and communities in this mycetoma-endemic area .
Although this visit involved participation and observing activities around mycetoma at MRC, it similarly boosted the chance to catch up with partners at the Institute of Endemic Diseases (IEND) and the Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences (FGES) at the University of Khartoum to see how things were progressing with other projects.
Prof Melanie delivered a session on genetics detailing links between host genetics and susceptibility to infectious disease, including the diverse genetic studies done in Sudan, by PhD and PDRF students from the Faculty of Science at the University of Khartoum.
NTDs Research 