The Afro-German health network has defined as its task to study and control respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, fevers of unknown origin and the occurrence of multi-drug resistant pathogens.

While research activities are co-ordinated on the German side by the Robert-Koch-Institute, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin takes on the coordination of the "Overarching Work Package ‚Capacity Building'", notably the activities of the "Individual Capacity Strengthening (ref. paragraph 6.2.2 of the Full Proposal). These activities are differentiated into short term professional development, and mid- and long term academic training.

Short-term: Based on the needs assessment carried out before proposal submission, 10 different courses have been identified as priority and will be offered to staff members of certain African network members. These one-to-several weeks long courses will in principle be offered by network members themselves.

Mid- to long term: Trainings at Master, PhD and postdoc level fall into this category. Eight Master studentships will be advertised for participants from Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and DR Congo; the courses will be offered by the Universities of Kinshasa, Pretoria and by Charité. Eleven PhD scholarships of up to 3.5 years duration will be advertised for participants from Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, DR Congo and South Africa. PhD students will be matriculated at the Universities of Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Kinshasa and Pretoria and will spend ca. 6 months at University of Pretoria or Charité. In addition, Charité will implement a "PhD in International Health" program, which will be available to further participants from ANDEMIA partner countries, Charité's Master program in International Health and other suitable candidates. the mid- to long term training program will be rounded off by 16 postdoc fellowships of two years' duration each.