Executing our extensive programme of institutional and individual capacity building in Africa, Asia and Latin America has been top priority in 2018 as well, following the previous year’s launch of a new five-year framework agreement between our generous donor, the Belgian Development Cooperation and ITM. In 2018 we continued to witness partners taking charge of developing their own scientific and medical expertise most relevant for their setting. A prime example of this was the Colloquium of 2018 which centred around antibiotic resistance and was jointly organised between ITM and four partner institutions in Cambodia – the only country besides the Democratic Republic of Congo where ITM has more than three partner institutions.

ITM also continued its fruitful partnership with the national health institute INS in Mozambique, with support of the Flemish Government. In 2018, the renewed collaboration between INS and ITM includes the ambitious plan to install a national surveillance system to facilitate monitoring of and research on antibiotic resistance in the sub-Saharan African country.