Kintampo Health Research Centre Wins Prestigious Award
The Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) has received the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in recognition of the centre’s contribution in the ongoing effort to develop a vaccine against malaria and its work to better medical care in Ghana. The award was first announced in May this year. The Principal Investigators, Dr. Seth Owusu-Agyei, also Director of KHRC, and Dr. Kwaku Poku Asante received the award at a colourful ceremony in Oviedo, Spain recently
Kintampo Health Research Centre and three other African institutions jointly won the award. The three others are The Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça (CISM), in Mozambique, directed by Dr Pedro Alonso; The Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (IHRDC), in Tanzania, directed by Dr. Hassan Mshinda; and The Malaria Research and Training Center, in Mali, directed by Professor Ogobara Doumbo.
The four health Institutions are part of a team working on clinical trials of a malaria vaccine, RTS, S, created in 1987 by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals, originally in collaboration with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In 2005, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a large grant to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) to extend the public-private partnership between MVI and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals to develop RTS,S for African children together with prominent African research institutions.
The Prince of Asturias Foundation awarded four health centres for encouraging research, achieving an effective vaccine and contributing to improvements in medical care in the
countries in which they operate. The work of these organizations in the training of local staff for biomedical research and institutional backing in the fight against malaria was also valued by the Jury.
Dr. Owusu-Agyei, in reaction said the award is recognition of the work of scientists in Ghana. He said he was extremely proud of his staff whose good work in rural communities in Ghana has been recognized internationally. He noted that Malaria still remains one of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is essential that African institutions such as KHRC take a lead role in developing new and innovative tools to complement other malaria control methods available currently.
The Prince of Asturias Foundation was formed by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Asturias, heir to the throne of Spain. It has conferred its awards since 1981. The awards acknowledge scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work carried out internationally by individuals, groups or in the categories of communication and humanities, social sciences, arts, letters, scientific and technical research, international cooperation, concord and sports.
The award has previously been won by renowned organizations like UNICEF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, British Council – UK, and Cable News Network (CNN).Individuals such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Mikhail Gorbachov of Russia have also won this award..
The Kintampo Health Research Centre was started in 1994 as one of the health research centres of the Ghana Health Service under the Health Research Unit of the Ghana Health service (GHS), Ministry of Health. It has developed one of the largest district health and demographic surveillance systems. KHRC has been testing the most advanced malaria vaccine, the RTS,S vaccine since 2006 under high international standards in the Kintampo North and South Districts.