Guest Post: Introducing the South-South Initiative

[Note: This week’s post is from Worachart Sirawaraporn, who serves on the coordinating committee of the South-South Initiative (SSI). I’m providing this post early, before leaving for Brazil to attend an SSI meeting. Thank you, Worachart! —Barbara]

Initiated in 2001 with the support of the Pathogenesis and Applied Genomics Committee of TDR, the South-South Initiative for Infectious Diseases of Poverty (SSI) is now entering its second phase of operation. The main goal of the initiative is to promote interaction and research collaboration between researchers interested in the infectious diseases of poverty in Disease Endemic Countries (DECs) across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

SSI can facilitate the development of intercontinental and interregional collaborative projects with respect to scientific, technological, and methodological advances in all relevant fields, including discovery science, implementation, health systems, and social sciences.

During its second phase, SSI aims to

• foster interactions among research groups within and between DECs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to form global networks and develop scientific leadership in DECs
• empower researchers in DECs to advance research, training, and capacity building in cutting-edge technologies
• contribute to identifying areas of common interest in research for health in different regions, and promote the development of common protocols, the transfer of essential technology,  and the sharing of reagents and information

More than 850 scientists worldwide have registered as members of SSI. Doing so enables scientists in different regions/countries having common scientific interest to share their expertise and interact with each other. Those interested can obtain more detailed information at www.ssi-tdr.net.