Show interest in scientific research into vaccines : Prof. Quakyi
An Immunologist, Prof. Isabella Quakyi, has called on governments in developing countries to show interest in scientific research into vaccines.
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She said unlike drug development research, technologies in vaccine research and productions were much expensive since the process required extensive screening and funding.
Prof. Quakyi, who is also the Foundation Dean of the School of Public Health of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, made the call at the 2015 inaugural lecture of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra.
Malaria vaccine
Speaking on the topic, “Building biomedical research capacity for malaria vaccine and public health from grassroots to policy: Challenges, achievements and future perspectives,” she said currently, there was no single malaria vaccine that cured the disease.
Professor Quakyi, the first female Dean of the College, said the type of vaccine needed to holistically deal with the treatment of malaria was one that would compose of antigens from the red cells, liver cell and the mosquito.
She called for the strengthening of health research capacity for a cutting-edge research in the country.
Immunology
Professor Quakyi, who has had over 30 years of research in a number of reputable laboratories in the world, spoke of efforts made into finding a vaccine for malaria and prospects of the findings.
“Having garnered the best research and training expertise from across the world, I felt it a duty and greater calling to build human and institutional capacities,” she told the audience.
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She said she owed it a responsibility to train and mentor the next generation of doctors, biomedical scientists and public health practitioners for cutting-edge research and practice.
Prof. Quakyi expressed the desire of seeing research translated from data to policy, then to practice and back to the field, describing it as “an interlinked cycle.”
Prospects
Prof. Quakyi said she was confident that in spite of the numerous bottlenecks, there was a brighter future, “for my malaria vaccine capacity building agenda.”
In the near future, she said, the School of Public Health would have to accelerate the establishment of state-of-the-art laboratories to enable cutting-edge research, but acknowledged the need for strategic leadership to push such an agenda.
Writer’s Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh