Cameroon

Congo Basin Institute (CBI)

The Congo Basin Institute (CBI) was UCLA’s first foreign affiliate in its 100-year history and represented the university’s commitment to working collaboratively with local communities around the globe. CBI offers training opportunities in infectious diseases and planetary health required to address the needs of the Central African region.

CBI is dedicated to helping address the complex and diverse challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa, while also upholding UCLA’s core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion through a deliberately collaborative and equitable approach to international research and education. It is built on years of collaborative research between UCLA and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) focused on biodiversity, zoonotic disease transmission, adaptation to climate change, and agricultural production. As part of National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research and education programs, UCLA and IITA conduct research and host multiple professional development workshops for groups of American and African students and researchers at the CBI campus. UCLA and IITA are currently implementing numerous research programs including Enhancing Novel Research and Education Capacity in Central Africa (2019-2021); Tracing the Geographic Origins and Trade Routes of Trafficked African Pangolin Products Using Modern Genomic Methods (2019-2022); GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment (TRADE) Hub - interdisciplinary research hubs to address intractable challenges faced by developing countries (2019 – 2024). Multiple sites in Cameroon are also involved in ongoing NIH-funded research projects in several regions (R21TW010956, R21TW010453) and our partnership has several funding applications currently submitted (U54TW012087, D43TW012186, R21TW011592).

The Program for the Advancement of Surgical Equity under the Department of Surgery at UCLA has a long-term collaboration with the University of Buea and the Ministry of Public Health in Cameroon. This strategic partnership focuses on strengthening trauma and surgical care systems in Cameroon through improving equitable access to care, quality improvement initiatives, and mobile health interventions.

Site contact: Dr. Kevin Njabo