Nigerian researcher selected for prestigious fellowship to combat river blindness

Nigerian researcher, Martins Imhansoloeva, has been selected for the Global Institute for Disease Elimination’s 2024-2025 Injaz Fellowship for Disease Elimination programme.

Imhansoloeva, a PhD candidate at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and a researcher for Sightsavers was selected along with three others for the programme, which aims to equip future leaders with the necessary knowledge, skills, and leadership strategies to make critical progress in tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases, malaria, and polio.

According to a statement from Sightsavers on Tuesday, the fellowship will support Imhansoloeva’s research on river blindness in Angola.

In its early stages, the disease, known as onchocerciasis, causes painful skin irritation, inflammation, and itching. If left untreated, the parasite that causes it can migrate into the eye, leading to irreversible sight loss.

The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 246 million people worldwide remain at risk of the disease.

His research will gather data on the blackflies that spread the disease, which will be vital in measuring progress towards eliminating it. The Injaz Fellowship will support his learning and development through courses that provide knowledge, skills, and leadership strategies to make critical inroads into tackling NTDs, malaria, and polio.

Imhansoloeva has been researching NTDs since he joined Sightsavers in 2019. His previous research includes investigating approaches to improve the reporting of mass drug administration data for NTDs, increasing awareness of and improving treatment for female genital schistosomiasis in Nigeria, and studies to improve trapping methods for the blackfly that spreads river blindness in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Malawi, and Mozambique.

According to him, “Angola continues to grapple with river blindness, a disease that causes painful skin irritation and can lead to permanent blindness. While regular community-wide drug campaigns are now being rolled out, we have little data on the transmission dynamics of the blackfly that spreads the disease. I will use the Injaz Fellowship to close this knowledge gap.”

On his part, the CEO of GLIDE, Simon Bland, said, “The Injaz Fellowship provides future leaders with an opportunity to expand their research and build on their knowledge and specialist skills in disease elimination.

Developing future leaders is an essential component of disease elimination, and I look forward to seeing how the winning individuals advance efforts in their countries and become agents of change in their respective fields.”

The statement added that the other three winning projects focus on rabies, trachoma, and enhancing the delivery of NTD projects for women and vulnerable populations, in regions spanning Australasia and Africa.

“The Injaz Fellowship is an innovative programme designed to advance global efforts to eliminate and eradicate infectious diseases. The focus diseases for this fellowship are Neglected Tropical Diseases, malaria, and polio. The fellowship aims to enhance fellows’ expertise in disease elimination and eradication, enabling them to contribute first to their countries and then to global health through research and policy advocacy.

“By concentrating efforts on diseases that significantly affect underserved populations, the Injaz Fellowship will be an important platform to promote global health equity and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, the Fellowship is strategically aligned with GLIDE’s mission to address the critical demand for skilled professionals in disease elimination to achieve the ambitious elimination goals for 2030 and beyond.

“The winning individuals were selected based on their contribution to disease elimination, project proposals, and leadership potential to address capacity strengthening, implementation excellence, and global health diplomacy needs within disease elimination,” it noted.