African Leadership in Measuring brain health for children and Adolescents (ALMA), is a consortium dedicated to nurturing the potential of every African child by training African scientists in the science of the young brain.
Understanding early-life brain development within the unique African context creates opportunities for scientific discovery and tailored healthcare. The ALMA integrated neuroscience network proposes to study these strongly interdependent topics within the research-rich environment of its African partners. The network is co-led by the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University and the Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town.
We seek to address three important gaps:
Lack of Local Evidence: There is a need for locally generated evidence to guide interventions that are relevant to the African context.
Limited Trained Experts: We lack a critical mass of well-trained individuals to produce the necessary evidence.
Need to Exploit Centers of Excellence: We aim to utilize our outstanding research facilities to equip and train neuroscientists across Africa.
Our approach to tackling these challenges can be summarized in four key points:
Advancing Neuroscience in Africa: We are dedicated to advancing the field of neuroscience on the continent.
Training African Researchers: Our focus is on training African research scientists, with a special emphasis on mentoring female scientists in the field of neuroscience.
Harnessing Infrastructural Support: We aim to leverage on the infrastructure of our institutions to create high-quality centers of excellence in neuroscience
Promoting Research Culture: We seek to actively promote a research culture by disseminating our findings, engaging with policy makers, and involving other stakeholders who can help implement our work within government and local communities.