UHAS Vice Chancellor, Professor John Owusu Gyapong, who is also Coordinator of the Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases Research, Institute of Health Research at UHAS, has advocated for “a more collaborative approach to galvanize interest and resources in NTDs research.”
He was speaking at a symposium organized by the Centre on January 30 to commemorate the first-ever World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day (World NTD Day) under the theme, “#BeatNTDs: For Good. For All”. He called on participants to “try and identify an area of interest, so that we can together work and build a research on NTDs which will be under the umbrella of UHAS”, in order to enhance the research agenda on NTDs.
He also made a presentation on “The Global NTD Burden — Meeting the Goals of the WHO Roadmap 2012–2020”, where he gave an overview of NTDs research trends and projections.
Professor Margaret Kweku, a senior lecturer at the School of Public Health presented her research work entitled “Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Africa: The Case of Ghana.” She noted that 17 years since her research, no further studies have been conducted. She therefore outlined research opportunities in the areas of effective treatment, immunological studies, epidemiological studies and qualitative studies.
Dr. Nicholas Obuobisa Opoku, a senior lecturer at the School of Public Health of the University of Health and Allied Sciences and Director of the Onchocerciasis Chemotherapy Research Centre, presented an intricate research on “Control of Onchocerciasis: Successes, Challenges and the Way Forward.”
Speaking on the topic “Overview of Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminths in Ghana”, Professor Richard Harry Asmah, Dean of the School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences (SBBS) revealed future studies on Schistosomiasis, particularly on the relationship between Urogential schistosomiasis and infertility in women.
Professor Margaret Gyapong, Director of the Institute of Health Research, presented on “Gender dimensions of NTD in Ghana”, highlighting how gender roles influence exposure to infection, perception of disease, response to illness and disease, quality of care, and compliance with treatment. She concluded with recommendations for advancing the gender research agenda in tropical disease research .