Okoe Boye commends research institutions over COVID-19 fight
The Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, has commended the tremendous contributions by research institutions in the country in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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He said the work of research institutions formed the basis for most of the decisions and initiatives by the government that enabled the country to successfully deal with the pandemic.
In a speech read on his behalf at the 10th anniversary of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana, the minister said the capabilities exhibited by institutions such as WACCBIP were significant to the combat of diseases and pandemics.
“WACCBIP was tremendous in generating data to support the national response, including leading the way in producing genome sequencing data and large scale of prevalence studies
“Data from WACCBIP and other research institutions often informed the President’s popular ‘fellow Ghanaians’ speeches and policy decisions,” he added.
WACCBIP
WACCBIP was established in 2014, with the core mandate of advancing research and the study of cell and molecular biology of infectious pathogens, focusing on diseases that disproportionately affect African countries.
The centre, which is a hub for cutting edge research, fostering scientific talent on the African continent, and developing innovative solutions to health problems, was established with an $8million facility from the World Bank as part of the African Centres for Excellence (ACE) project.
So far, WACCBIP has received more than $50 million in additional funding which has enabled it to establish a state of the art research facility, and also provides fellowships to 244 MPhil students,130 PhDs and 56 post-doctoral fellows.
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The centre also engages in outreach programmes to explain the findings and benefits of its research. It has so far engaged 50 communities and 10,000 students in its outreach programmes.
Dr Okoe Boye further described WACCBIP as a critical institution of national development. “WACCBIP is playing a critical role in reducing the brain drain by providing a world-class training environment and fellowships for young biomedical scientists and healthcare professionals to attain higher degrees without the need to travel abroad,’ he said.
Vision
The Vice-Chancellor of UG, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, also said that WACCBIP epitomised the university's new strategic plan which focused on transformative student experience, commitment to faculty and staff, engagement and partnerships, sustainable resource mobilisation and stewardship.
“World-class research is being carried out here at UG with the capacity to impact the quality of human life, and WACCBIP is playing a pivotal role.
“These research outputs must be showcased to ensure that its full potential is explored through expanded stakeholder dialogue,” she said.
For his part, the Director of WACCBIP, Prof. Gordon Awandare, expressed gratitude to stakeholders who had supported the centre since its inception, especially the government for accessing the World Bank facility in 2014, which provided the seed money for the centre.
He also commended faculty members, staff and researchers whose inputs had made the WACCBIP a centre of research excellence.
Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh