UVRI Hands Over The REC Office Jinja Regional Referral Hospital

The Eastern Africa Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR3) with Funding Support from the from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) on the 23rd March 2023 handed over the Research and Ethics Office at the Jinja Regional Referral Hospital (JRRH) in Eastern Uganda.
The process started in June 2022, with a meeting between UVRI/EACCR and Jinja RRH. During that meeting, the scientific Liaison Officer- Dr Bernard Kikaire shared the vision and objectives of EACCR. He emphasized the importance of strengthening the conduct of ICH-GCP complaint research in the region and the need to have functional ethical regulatory committees at the Regional Referral Hospitals.

The Executive Director JRRH requested EACCR to partner with the hospital to establish a functional REC office and Committee. The Secretariat welcomed the idea, and JRRH signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the EACCR secretariat based at UVRI- Entebbe.

EACCR facilitated 2 training courses of REC members and had a training workshop at UVRI from 17th to 19th Oct 2022 and guided on the development of standard operating procedures (SOPs) which are requirements before UNCST accreditation.

UVRI/EACCR has further strengthened the capacity of JRRH staff through other short-term training such as Research management and Research bioethics, from which 3 members of the JJRH REC benefited.
The next steps involved field assessment of the site to establish a REC Office and have it renovated and installing lockable cabins by EACCR.

EACCR acknowledges EDCTP for investing in the networks of excellence and for creating avenues to work together to build capacity for research infrastructure in Africa.