Ever since the Ghana recorded it’s first cases of the novel coronavirus, the country has had to put together all of its apparache to help combat what has now become a global threat. A key part of the combatting process is to be able to go into testing whether or not persons suspected to have symptoms of the disease actually have the disease.
Today, ‘Accra This Week’ throws the spotlight on one body that has been at the center of Ghana’s fight against the Covid-19 disease; Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR ) where samples of suspected carriers of the disease are tested.
As the country like the president said in his last address to the nation, the thousands of samples that need to be tested to inform the future decisions of the country; Noguchi has had to work around the clock to ensure that all of these test results are delivered on time.
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The Institute was named after celebrated and renowned Japanese bacteriologist, Dr. Hideyo Noguchi who researched into yellow fever in Ghana and West Africa. Unfortunately, he died from the same disease in the year 1928.
Donated to the government of Ghana by the Japanese Government in the year 1979, the facility located on the hills of Legon in the University of Ghana stands as the leading biomedical facility in Ghana and Africa.It is a semi-autonomous institute of the University.
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The institute has a vision to “be a leading global medical research centre” with the aim of “Improving the health and well-being of Ghanaians and mankind through focused and relevant quality biomedical research, human resource development and support of national public health activities”. They also have the mandate of conducting researches into diseases of public health importance, training postgraduate students in biomedical sciences and supporting the public health programmes of the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service just like we are seeing now.
As a result, their work delves into conducting research into both communicable and non-communicable diseases using both field and laboratory research methods. And like we know know, communicable diseases like the covid-19 which is a new corona virus.
The institute has 9 departments that specialize in the areas of Animal Experimentation, Bacteriology, Clinical Pathology, Electron Microscopy and Histopathology, Epidemiology, Immunology, Nutrition Parasitology, and Virology.
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Over the years, Noguchi has played a major role in the West African sub-region especially by providing effective diagnosis of infections including HIV/Aids, H1N1 Pandemic Flu, LASSA fever, Yellow fever, and Ebola Virus Disease.
They also provide training opportunities in biomedical research for undergraduate and postgraduate students. They are equipped well enough to support our national health bodies/authorities with laboratory diagnostic support as well as monitoring and closely observations like in the case of the covid-19.
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