ISGlobal and CISM Celebrate their Biennial Strategic Meeting

The leadership teams of the Fundaçao Manhiça (FM) / Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institute supported by "la Caixa" Foundation, met this week in Manhiça (Mozambique) to review the results of theirstrategic collaboration   and develop the alliance's action plan for the coming years. Thus, the centres consolidate ago, a shared model of scientific cooperation, training and management that started more than 25 years between FM and ISGlobal.

The meeting was inaugurated by the FM president, Leonardo Simao, and by the Spanish ambassador in Mozambique, Alberto Cerezo, and was attended by the general directors and the scientific and training directors of both centres as well as by, ISGlobal’s manager and scientific director with CISM, and those responsible for human resources, finances and institutional relations at CISM. Throughout the two days of work, the Strategic Plans of both institutions were shared, joint funding opportunities for research were defined, and opportunities were identified to ensure the sustainability of CISM's structural funding in the future.

"The support to our centres by the governments of Mozambique and Spain has been fundamental in consolidating a stable relationship that has driven growth in the areas of research and training, in both countries. Our commitment to global health is firm and we will continue to collaborate to generate scientific evidence that can save lives," said Francisco Saúte, general director of the CISM. 

Cooperation between Spain and Mozambique

The ISGlobal leadership team also met with the Spanish ambassador to Mozambique, Alberto Cerezo, and with the director of Spanish Cooperation in the African country, Fernando Regúlez, to share the advances and pending challenges that the strategic collaboration between the two centres is facing in the country. 

"We would like to thank, once again, the Government of Spain’s and the Spanish Cooperation’s support to both CISM and ISGlobal for more than 25 years. Driven by researchers from Spain and Mozambique, the CISM is one of the most emblematic projects of the relationship between Spain and Mozambique, and a consolidated model of institutional, scientific and technical cooperation with decisive contributions to reducing the impact of some of the main health problems in southern Africa," said Antoni Plasència, ISGlobal's general director.

Throughout the week, the ISGlobal team also met with strategic partners of the Institute, such as the president of the Board of Directors of the FM and director of the Maputo Central Hospital, Mouzinho Saíde, the director for Cooperation of the Mozambique Ministry of Health, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Manuel Gonçalves, and the Rector of the University Eduardo Mondlane, Orlando Quilambo.

25 years of collaboration

The long-term relationship between CISM and ISGlobal is the result of more than 25 years of collaboration guided by a shared model of research, training and interventions based on the principles of scientific excellence, innovation, knowledge transfer and training, which are mainly focused on health and equity. This model has not only benefited Mozambique and Spain, but also global health everywhere as the work has given rise to highly significant advances and achievements in several research areas, including the clinical development of the RTS,S malaria vaccine and the implementation of pneumonia and pneumococcus vaccines in Mozambique. Another important achievement has been the development of new strategies for malaria prevention during pregnancy, which have now been standardised worldwide as World Health Organisation recommendations.