As the Secretariat of the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) in Africa initiative, the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is extremely saddened to hear about the untimely passing of Dr Kouassi Richard M 'Bra.

Dr M'Bra was one of the 21 post-doc research fellows who won the African wide CR4D research grant competition in 2019 through his innovative research project titled "Impact of Climate Change on the Transmission Risk of Malaria in Southern Côte d'Ivoire".

Given malaria is the disease that has the most significant health burden in many African countries, in Côte d'Ivoire, the impact is high with an estimated incidence of 330 cases per 1000 population. To this effect, Dr. M'Bra was undertaking a research focusing on the relationship between climate variables and malaria transmission to come-up with early warning systems that forecast periods of high malaria infection risk in his home country.

We believed that his exemplary career path and his contributions to scientific community would serve as an inspiration to his country in general and the Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly students in particular.

We must say that we were all utterly devastated by the loss of such a brilliant hydrologist and dedicated member of our first cohort of the CR4D post-doc researchers and the excruciating pain that ensues. However, Dr. M'Bra will be remembered by many of his fellow collegues as enthusiastic, helpful and energetic researcher who contributed a lot to the science and the community.

May God ease your pain and grant you patience in this difficult time.

CR4D Secretariat