MRC International Statistics & Epidemiology Partnership (ISEP): Strengthening capacity in applied medical statisticians in sub-Saharan Africa

There is an increased demand for expertise in medical statistics and epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Demand currently exceeds supply due to both a long-standing shortage of trained and experienced statisticians and the ongoing explosion of data relevant and important to human health. This includes both traditional sources of data, such as observational epidemiological studies, intervention trials and surveillance data, and new large-scale data sources including social media, geospatial data, mobile phones, wearable technology, electronic medical records, bioimaging, and genomics.

The proposed MRC International Statistics and Epidemiology Partnership (ISEP) will seek to address the shortage in capacity by creating a partnership between applied statisticians ("ISEP statisticians") at several institutions in SSA: African Population Health Research Centre (APHRC), Kenya; The Health Research Unit, Zimbabwe (THRU-ZIM); Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit (MITU), Tanzania; MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit; MRC Unit The Gambia; Zambart, Zambia; the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the MRC Clinical Trials Unit, UK.

The Partnership complements existing initiatives for strengthening capacity for medical statistics in SSA which focus either on formal training at MSc and PhD levels, or on bilateral partnerships between one Northern and one African institute. We specifically address the needs of early-to-mid career applied medical statisticians who lack career and skills development opportunities, and report isolation which can lead to poor job satisfaction and retention.

The Partnership will improve

i) The skill set of medical statisticians by focusing on a) peer-support through an online platform, monthly meetings and periodic theme-specific meetings, exchange visits of ISEP statisticians between partner institutions, sharing of resources used by working statisticians such as statistical analysis plans, and facilitating new joint grant applications; b) training in technical and transferrable skills including management training and skills training specific to the needs of working statisticians such as being on a Data Safety and Monitoring Board; and c) creation of a pilot mentorship scheme including training workshops for mentors and ISEP mentees using LSHTM materials, matching and evaluation

ii) Training in medical statistics and epidemiology, led by ISEP statisticians, for students and non-statisticians through a) a two-year MSc Medical Statistics Fellowship scheme, b) short course delivery by developing and implementing a package of training resources in statistics, c) training of trainers to deliver short courses, d) PhD supervision.

iii) Stakeholder engagement with a) Directors of ISEP partner institutes to reinforce the benefits of statistical leadership at research institutes both for specific projects and to raise the quality of all quantitative research undertaken, and the need for adequate value and funding for statisticians; b) Directors of relevant BSc/MSc programmes at local Universities and African Institute of Mathematical Sciences to raise awareness of medical statistics as a career among young mathematicians and statisticians; c) policy makers to raise awareness of the role of data to guide public health policy and the importance of training and research support and d) youth to encourage consideration of careers in health research and data analysis by visiting schools and universities

Through these activities, we aim to create a sustainable network of trained, confident, experienced statisticians in SSA. This will contribute to a culture change in the perception of statisticians and their role in epidemiological research along with complementary initiatives, with an immediate and longer-term impact on the quality of research conducted.