In a landmark initiative aimed at addressing pressing health challenges across the continent, the African Academy of Health and Sciences was officially inaugurated in Dakhla, Morocco.
The Academy for Health and Sciences is expected to be a hub for research, education, and innovation in tackling health challenges across Africa.
The Moroccan government, led by the Minister for Health, Amine Tahraoui, praised the establishment of the academy as a significant step towards improving healthcare outcomes in Africa.
The academy is here to meet the needs of the population; academia and training are adapted to African identity to tackle future challenges.”
Professor Heikel Jaafar from the Mohamed the 6th Foundation of Sciences and Health said the Academy is meant to encourage the south-to-south corporation and showcase the immense capability of African health scientists.
“We have come together to build a new health system for Africa in terms of training, competency, and vaccine sovereignty for Africa by Africans.”
He said the challenges facing Africa are not human capability but economics.
With most African health scientists working in Europe, the academy is an opportunity for them to work in Africa and share their knowledge.
“If we bring together our men and women health scientists here in Dakhla, we can show the future generations and the world that we can build a new health for Africa by African people.”
The African continent still grapples with infectious diseases like malaria, a matter the former foreign affairs minister for Burkina Faso, Olivia Rouamba, says the African Academy for Health Sciences is an opportunity to carry out research and find solutions within the continent.
“We really need to keep focus on these kinds of initiatives because the secret of our development will come from such initiatives.” The Gambian former minister for health, Yankuba Kassama, said the last outbreak of COVID-19 brought to the fore vaccine inequity and access to Africa.”
He said epidemics will come, but it’s time to prepare. “The only way is to put ourselves together, encourage, and learn from each other; that way we get our vaccine sovereignty.”
He decried the brain drain of African health experts but says the academy is a platform for them to give back to the continent.
“Without health we cannot improve our economies; with a human resource that is not healthy, nothing can happen.”
The state-of-the-art facility plans to partner with various organisations to attract students and researchers from across the continent and beyond.
