KCCR AWAITS WHO CERTIFICATION

Barring any last minute hiccups, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative                 Research will be certified by the World Health Organization as a diagnostics training and testing centre for the Ebola viral disease by the end of this year. The Centre has already started the processes towards the final WHO Certification.

 This was made known by the Coordinator of an Ebola Diagnostic Training at the Centre, Professor Christian Meyer at a two-week Ebola Diagnostic Training programme for scientists from Ghana, Benin and some other West African nations. 

The participants will go through practical training on the best and safest handling of suspected Ebola cases they would come into contact with for laboratory investigation. 

The Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research is a joint venture among the Ministry of Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the Benhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany. Founded in 1997, the Centre’s mandates includes conducting basic and applied research into tropical and related diseases, act as international platform for biomedical research, as well as build the capacity of young and energetic scientists to help control the health problems of Africa. When eventually approved, the Centre will become the second WHO approved centre for research and testing into suspected cases of the Ebola viral disease in Ghana to take part of the work load of the Noguchi Memorial Research Institute in Accra which has been conducting laboratory tests to all suspected Ebola cases in Ghana. After the certification however, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research will then take care of all Ebola suspected cases that would come from the northern sector of the country.  Professor Christian Meyer mentioned Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso as being at higher risk of contracting the deadly Ebola viral disease hence the capacity training to give the participants a practical approach to the fight against the disease. The Minister of Health, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah declared government’s support to the Centre and to facilitate the certification processes. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Samuel Sarpong said proper laboratory investigations are essential for effective control of especially viral diseases. A representative of the Noguchi Memorial Research Institute, Dr. Joseph Bonney, disclosed that out of the 136 suspected cases of Ebola the Institute received for laboratory investigation since its outbreak in West Africa, 50 of them were received from the northern part of Ghana

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