The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) together with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) has commissioned the KNUST-IVI Collaborating Centre at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital in the Ashanti Region.
The Principal Investigator and the Pro Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo announced that KNUST-IVI Collaborating Centre will be a research and training site to implement ongoing and new collaborative projects, including disease surveillance, vaccine clinical development, vaccination campaigns, and vaccine effectiveness and health economics studies for infectious diseases prevalent in the region such as typhoid and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella. The KNUST-IVI Collaborating Centre is the first of its kind in Africa initiated by IVI to enable joint research, development, and capacity-building activities to achieve regional health objectives as well as the UN’s global goals.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson in her welcome remarks congratulated the KNUST-IVI team for establishing the Centre. According to her, the commissioning of the Research Centre which is in furtherance of KNUST’s mission would strengthen the collaboration that has been ongoing since 2007. The inauguration is also another demonstration of KNUST’s outstanding history of impactful collaborations with national and international institutions of higher learning and research, she added.
Recounting the KNUST-IVI partnership for the past 14 years, she explained that the partners have worked on typhoid fever research in Ghana and adduced evidence on the high burden of typhoid fever in the country; the high cost of illness to individual families and the country; and most importantly, on the increasing microbial resistance to antibiotics used for treatment. With the prequalification of typhoid vaccines by WHO, she believes that the vaccine trial will assess the impact of the vaccine on typhoid illness, the safety of the vaccine and its immunogenicity.
Dr. Florian Marks, Principal Research Associate at the University of Cambridge and Deputy Director General at IVI, said: “After over a decade of working in close partnership with Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo and his team at KNUST, we are extremely pleased that IVI and KNUST have officially established a Collaborating Centre to recognize our history of successful, scientific cooperation and to set the stage for future global health impact. We look forward to continuing our work toward a shared vision of eliminating typhoid and other vaccine-preventable diseases in Ghana and beyond.”
The Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare in his speech mentioned that Typhoid fever infects and kills many in low and middle-income countries, particularly, those in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, with at least half a million lives lost to the disease. To this end, the government is committed to providing the needed baseline data of equipment and skills gaps, as well as budget input that will aid the centre to develop vaccines.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Alhaji Mahama Asei Seini in his remarks revealed the government’s efforts at initiating the setting up of the potential vaccine development centre in Ghana. He further announced that KNUST and IVI will initiate a Phase-04 vaccine trial for a WHO pre-qualified typhoid conjugate vaccine and conduct a plan Phase-2b dose de-escalating trial for a paediatric vaccine for invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis towards developing a vaccine. He commended KNUST-IVI for the achievements so far.
The Director General of IVI, Dr. Jerome Kim, said that IVI partners countries to make vaccines available and accessible for developing countries. ``We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as typhoid, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance.
He hoped that the scientific collaboration of research between KNUST and IVI would help in vaccine development, disease prevention and vaccination campaigns.
Also present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital Manager and Chaplain, Registrar for KNUST, Mr. Andrew Kwasi Boateng; Ambassador of Korea to Ghana (via zoom), H.E. Lim Jeong Taek; Provost of CHS, Professor Christian Agyare; Former Provost of the College of Health Sciences (CHS), Professor Yaw Adu-Sarkodie; Finance Officer for KNUST, Mr. Yaw Nimo Baffour; Head of Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, KNUST, Professor Jerry John Kponyo.
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a non-profit intergovernmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
