Durban — A University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) academic was the recipient of a R45 million award to fund asthma research.
UKZN said that Professor Refiloe Masekela, UKZN’s head of paediatrics and child safety and who is globally renowned for her work on asthma in children, is the recipient of the distinguished National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Research Professorship award.
The NIHR’s flagship career development award which is worth R45M over a five-year period will fund research on avoidable morbidity from asthma in African children.
Masekela, a paediatric pulmonologist, is the first researcher based in a low- and middle-income country to receive this award and the first black African woman.
“The prestigious Global Health Research Professorship will provide a step-change in my career, establishing me as a global research leader. As the first female black African to receive this award, I am humbled and excited to embark on this journey.
“I am particularly pleased that this professorship includes funding for PhDs in both clinical research and health economics, as well as support costs for our wider team. This helps strengthen our research capacity in an area which has historically been under-resourced,” Masekela said after hearing she had received the award.
Her research aims to improve access to effective and affordable asthma care for children in Africa.
“Asthma affects one in 10 children globally and is the most common non-communicable disease (NCD) in children and adolescents. Sadly, in Africa, it is largely neglected with children suffering severe morbidity from asthma. Lack of access to a diagnosis of asthma as well as poor access to quality-assured cost-effective medicines are key gaps in asthma care,” Masekela said.
The award will also fund three doctoral candidates in clinical as well as health economics research as well as develop a Pan African respiratory NCD repository. Masekela says she aims to create an African Asthma Observatory to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for asthma in three African countries using validated methodologies.
“I will also conduct a study to assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a pragmatic single inhaler-based approach to asthma management in children and adolescents in South Africa. My ultimate goal is that all children and adolescents with asthma in Africa should have equitable access to affordable and effective care,” Masekela said.
She has held a number of leadership positions in local and international thoracic societies. She is the vice-chairperson of the Pan African Thoracic Society (Pats). As the vice president of Pats, part of her mission is to highlight issues around lung health in Africa and to guide policy in various countries on the continent.
Currently, Masekela is the director of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical and Operations Research (Mecor) Africa programme. The Mecor programme is a research methodology programme run by the Pan African Thoracic Society, which provides training on operational and clinical lung research for trainees from all over Africa and has trained over 450 trainees from over 20 countries.
Masekela is also a group member of the ATS Paediatric Global Health Group. Through Pats Mecor, she developed the African Women in Research Mentorship Programme.
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