KNUST to host the German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is hosting the new German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC) within the College of Health Sciences in Kumasi, Ghana. The G-WAC project officially began on May 01, 2021 with nearly 2.8 million EUR from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The G-WAC is one of the eight new DAAD-funded Global Centres for Climate Health to be established across low-and middle-income countries to address global challenges with a commitment of approximately 22 million EUR funds from the German Foreign Office from 2021 to 2025 (with a possibility to extend to 2030).
The aim of G-WAC at KNUST is to be a centre of excellence dedicated to addressing the existential threat of global pandemics to health and the welfare of people in the West-African sub-region and beyond. Among other things, the innovative exchange programmes for postgraduate training will engage at least 14 doctoral training opportunities across disciplines. The Centre also aims at establishing a West African policy dialogue on topics relevant to Global Health, Pandemic Prevention and One Health.
The Provost of the College of Health, Prof. Christian Agyare, explained that “The G-WAC draws on experience and expertise of at least three schools within the College of Health Sciences (i.e. School of Public Health, School of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Dentistry and School of Veterinary Medicine), and of two main German partners: the Berlin School of Public Health – (including Technische Universität Berlin [TUB] and Charité Universitätsmedizin – Berlin), and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB)”.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson, indicates that the G-WAC is another confirmation of KNUST’s track record of impactful collaborations with national and international institutions of higher education and research. “With our combined capacity to address the challenges of pandemic preparedness, expanding our institutional remit to establish a centre of excellence as a dedicated effort to advance state-of-art research and practice in Global Heath with a focus on pandemic preparedness is both timely and of potentially great impact only for Ghana but the rest of Africa” the Vice Chancellor stated.
The KNUST leadership and management specially congratulates the Provost; Prof. Christian Agyare and the lead applicants at the KNUST-College of Health Sciences including Prof. Alexander Yaw Debrah, Dean of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences; Prof. Sam Kofi Newton, Ag. Dean of the School of Public Health; and Prof. Benjamin O. Emikpe, Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. John H. Amuasi, Department Global and International Health, School of Public Health; Dr. Daniel Opoku, Department of Health Policy, Management and Economics, School of Public Health; Dr. Michael Owusu, Depart of Medical Diagnostics, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences; Dr. Linda Batsa Debrah, Department of Clinical Microbiology, School of Medicine and Dentistry.
