The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) will, from Monday, 29th January to Friday, 2nd February 2018, host a training workshop for biomedical scientists from Catholic health centres in Ghana at the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology of the University of Ghana.
The workshop, organised in partnership with the National Catholic Health Service (NCHS), will aim to build capacity of biomedical laboratory scientists working in NCHS health centres across the country on modern tools and techniques in diagnosing infectious diseases.
WACCBIP aims to improve prevention, diagnosis, and control of infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa by providing advanced training and research excellence on the cell and molecular biology of infectious pathogens. Partnering with the NCHS, which oversees 36 hospitals and 78 clinics in mostly rural parts of Ghana, ensures that personnel at health centres in deprived areas will gain the modern know-how to help improve disease diagnosis and health delivery within the communities that need it the most.
“This type of workshop is along the lines of our vision to improve diagnosis, prevention, and control of diseases,” says Prof. Gordon Awandare, Director of WACCBIP. “Lab personnel at the hospitals are on the frontline of disease diagnosis. So, what we are trying to do is to update their skills and make sure that they are abreast with modern methods for diagnosis and also that they understand the principles behind those methods.”
“We are starting with the National Catholic Health Service because they are one of the biggest non-governmental institutions that support health delivery in the country and, hopefully, we will bring others into the picture in the future.” Prof. Awandare says. “We want to update their [the participants'] knowledge in general about the pathogens that cause diseases so that they are abreast with the new knowledge about these diseases, which will be very important in improving the quality of work in their hospitals.”
Seasoned scientists from WACCBIP and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) will partner experienced medical practitioners to deliver advanced training in viral, bacterial, protozoan, fungal, and helminth infections; as well as lectures on diagnostics and healthcare, TB immunity, Bioinformatics & Big Data, and Breast Cancer in Ghana.
“Diagnosis is central to everything,” Prof. Awandare says. “If you do not get accurate diagnosis of diseases, that means that you are mistreating patients, you are wasting drugs, and causing resistance to drugs. The patients don't get better, and you don't achieve anything; so, it is very important to get accurate diagnosis, and that is what we are trying to achieve.”
