Professor William G. Powderly
The Director of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, Prof. William G. Powderly has called on Research Universities to provide academic leadership in tackling critical aspects of global health challenges. He noted that because global health challenges are interdependent, improvement in one health condition makes it easier to address others. He said that collaborative action among governments, international organizations, corporations, universities, NGOs, and creative individuals helps in tackling global health challenges.
Prof. Powderly made these remarks at the 6th in the series of the Vice-Chancellors Occasional Lecture. His Lecture was on the topic, ‘Why Transdisciplinary Science is Critical to Address Global Health Challenges: Lessons from HIV/AIDS’.
He emphasized the need to step-up research collaborations between academics from various disciplines as well as develop cross-national collaborations in addressing the major global challenges. In addition, he called for the development of sustainable public/private partnerships focused on applying innovative technologies.
Prof. Powderly gave a historical background of the development of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, noting that HIV treatment and care services must work with other programmes. He underscored the need to integrate HIV services with other services, and especially with other chronic disease care services for conditions, such as TB, STI, antenatal and delivery, family planning, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer screening and treatment services. He said that people living with HIV/Aids also suffer from these diseases, hence the need to give priority to other diseases alongside treatment of HIV.
On the current state of HIV control, Prof. Powderly noted that research has shown that there are still issues with adherence to treatment and prevention as well as the marginalization of key populations such as women and children. He also mentioned donor fatigue and the different health priorities of individual countries as some of the challenges. He hinted that contrary to the myth that Western countries are funding HIV/AIDS care in Africa, the bulk of funding is coming from the domestic resources of African countries. He described this as a good sign and noted that to make gains in HIV/AIDS treatment, citizens need to see the commitment of their governments through their investments in the treatment of the disease.
He mentioned that the UNAIDS/WHO has set an ambitious target of achieving up to 90% with respect to the diagnosis, treatment and viral suppression of HIV AIDS by the year 2020. Prof. Powderly was however not optimistic that this could be achieved considering the current rate of control measures.
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey who chaired the Lecture, noted that the Vice-Chancellor’s Occasional Lecture Series was instituted about four years ago to give accomplished researchers a platform to share their research work. He indicated that the Lectures provide the opportunity for Researchers and students to interact with accomplished colleagues working in their research areas. He therefore urged researchers from the various disciplines to partner and think creatively while proposing solutions on how best to help eradicate the HIV/AIDS epidemic through research. Prof. Aryeetey also called on researchers to involve students in their projects to enable them build upon their research capacities.
Since the lecture series was instituted, there have been 5 lectures delivered by distinguished researchers. They include, Professor Michael Good, a NHMRC Australia Fellow at Griffith University and past Director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research; Dr. Paul L. G. Vlek, Executive Director of the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use; Professor Peter Piot, the Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Second Recipient of the Noguchi Prize, co-discoverer of the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976 and the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS; Prof. Spencer Shorte, Director and Executive Engineer of Imagopole, Institut Pasteur, and Professor Moses Bockarie, Director of the Liverpool Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, UK.
A section of the audience at the lecture
The Lecture was attended by faculty and students mainly from the School of Public Health and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, faculty members, as well as officials of the University.
Professor William G. Powderly (third from left) poses with University officials after the lecture. From Left- Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe, immediate past Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Anatomy; Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor; Prof. Yao Tettey, Provost of the College of Health Sciences; and Prof. Jennifer Welbeck, Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry.
As part of his visit to the University, Prof. Powderly interacted with faculty and students at the School of Public Health. He earlier paid a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Ernest Aryeetey.
Prof. Powderly is seen with the Vice-Chancellor in his Office when he called on him.
