The West African Infectious Diseases Institute (WAIDI) was incorporated in 2012 as a collaborative, multi-university initiative based in Nigeria. Its mission is to support and improve locally led research, promote findings to encourage strong health policy and ensure effective healthcare programs and systems, and offer premium training and education opportunities for the region's health workforce.

Nigeria, the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa with more than 170 million residents, has the largest infectious disease burden in the world. While being home to more than 30 medical schools, there is relatively little academic collaboration to inform program development.  The country does not presently have a sufficient health workforce or the facilities to analyze and diagnose disease at early stages.

Nigeria's health sector faces several deficiencies and hurdles to the development of permanent institutional capacity and effective progress:

• Lack of visionary leadership, owing to mass emigration of top talent over the past decades
• Isolation from the international community, resulting from years of dictatorship and corruption
• Diverse and fragmented investments in the health sector
• A long history of "parachute research initiatives" with limited sustainable impact
• Operational inefficiency and poor financial management
• Lack of research infrastructure

Nigeria is in desperate need of new approaches to improving the health of its people in a complex and dynamic environment.

Based in Abuja, Nigeria, the West African Infectious Diseases Institute (WAIDI) is a collaborative multi-university organization with a mission to support and improve locally driven research and training across all infectious diseases. The institute promotes the use of evidence in setting strong health policy and ensuring that effective healthcare practices are implemented in the public and private sectors. Supported by funding from ExxonMobil and others, WAIDI is modeled on Accordia's flagship center of excellence, the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University in Uganda, and is locally owned and autonomous.

Designed to serve member universities and individual researchers in conducting high quality research in all areas of infectious disease, WAIDI provides specialized infrastructure, improved compliance with global research standards, national and international linkages and collaboration, and access to new funding sources. Programs and policies are guided by WAIDI's West African Academic Alliance, a group of ten top Nigerian academicians and health experts; Accordia's International Academic Alliance; and a network of partner universities from around the world. Through world-class research and high quality training, WAIDI aims to transform Nigeria's and other West African countries' national health systems and to ensure better health outcomes for their populations.

To ensure WAIDI's success and endurance, the West African Chapter of the Academic Alliance was formally established, and provides seasoned leadership and technical guidance for the West African Infectious Diseases Initiative.  The West African Chapter currently has membership of a core group of 17 top academicians and health experts from West Africa and the US, selected for their reputations as leaders in infectious disease, including Dr. John Idoko (Co-Chair), Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and Professor Abdulsalami Nasidi of the Nigerian Centers for Disease Control.  As a Chapter of Accordia Global Health Foundation's International Academic Alliance, WAIDI has access to a global consortium of academicians, physicians, clinicians, and researchers who are committed to advancing the establishment of permanent capacity for health leadership and innovation in Africa, including the West African Infectious Diseases Initiative.

View the full list of the West African Academic Alliance members and their bios here.

• Ado Bayero University Kano
• Ahmadu Bello University Zaria
• Gombe State University
• Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka
• Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife
• University of Calabar
• University of Ibadan
• University of Jos
• University of Lagos
• University of Maiduguri
• University of Nigeria Nsuka
• University of Uyo

• West African AA Chapter
• SPANIMMProject
• SPEARHEAD Project
• Professors In Residence