By
Maxwell Awumah, GNA Correspondent, Dakar, Senegal
Dakar, Senegal, Aug 31, GNA – Dr Sarah Achieng
Opendi, Ugandan Minister of Health for General Duties has said it is ridiculous
that Africa’s contribution to global research still hovers around 1.2 percent
and yet confronted by myriads of health- related challenges.
She said political leadership and
policy-makers need to appreciate the enormity of the continent’s health
problems and apply adequate resources to the unfunded priorities.
She lamented that African Union directive for
nations to commit a percent of their gross domestic products (GDP) towards
investments that has the potential to solve the difficult problems have been
flouted with impunity.
Dr Opendi made these remarks at the panel
discussion of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials
Partnership’s (EDCTP) high-level meeting of participating States and strategic
partners side event at the 68th Session of the WHO-AFRO Regional Committee
workshop in Dakar, Senegal on Thursday.
The EDCTP is a public-private partnership
between institutions mandated by national governments in Europe and Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) and funded by the European Union (Horizon 2020), with capacity to
support clinical research, research capacity development and international
networking to address key infectious diseases on the continent.
The main goal of the EDCTP side event is to
increase awareness about the EDCTP model for funding health research in Sub-
Saharan Africa (SSA) with complementary international cooperation.
Dr Seth Amanfo, a representative of Tackling Infections
to Benefit Africa (TIBA) said his outfit was harnessing the expertise and technical
capacity of biomedical and social sciences to reduce the burden and threat of
infections by informing and influencing health policy to strengthen health
systems and outcomes.
He said TIBA is well-positioned and committed
to contributing to increasing the capacity of research to up the visibility of
National Health Research Systems (NHRS) for development, entreating continental
leaders and the private sector to join forces and resources to break new
grounds.
Dr João Leopoldo da Costa, Deputy Minister of
Health of Mozambique called for strong science mandates in the training of young
researchers in science and technology capable of fixing the matrix that would
support the adaptation of NHRS to serve as a foundation to drive this agenda.
He said political support is key to sound governance
and adaptation of NHRS, Professor Stanley Okolo, Director-General of West
African Health Organisation (WAHO) said there was need to follow benchmarks in the
implementation of strategic research orientations anchored on NHRS to support
quality health systems in West Africa with sustainable financing regimes.
He noted time has come to integrate
high-impact and cost-effective interventions into research systems through partnerships and capacity
building modeling .
GNA