By Davidson Ndyabahika. Additional Reporting by Michelle Azorbo
Representatives from Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University on Friday (January 29) signed an agreement, furthering an alliance between the two research-led universities.
The collaboration agreement was establishing the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health – CESH. This Centre seeks to promote partnerships, develop capacity, resources and tools to drive the agenda for sustainable health.
Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor Makerere University, and Prof. Ole Petter Ottersen, President Karolinska Institutet, signed the agreement in a virtual ceremony.
The agreement is a step in the deepening of the collaboration between the institutions and a major leap towards driving the agenda for sustainable health.
“Fueled by our experiences in COVID-19, we see an urgent need to build universal preparedness for health and I am convinced that the new Centre will contribute significantly to this. My vision is that the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health will help transform how research and policies are formulated and conducted in the area of sustainable health”, explained KI’s President Ole Petter Ottersen.
Professor Nawangwe said that the signing ceremony marks a milestone of deepening the successful cooperation between Makerere University and Karolinska Institutet.
“This is an important next step in the long-standing collaboration between Makerere University and Karolinska Institutet. Deepening our partnership will be a significant contribution to increase action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda”, said Professor Nawangwe.
In a dialogue preceding the signing session, the two heads of KI and Mak shared warm experiences and visions for the partnership. They also congratulated each other on the roles the institutions are doing to support efforts to curb the global pandemic.
Professor Nawangwe highlighted the pivotal role Makerere University as a key research institution in Uganda is doing to support national and global efforts in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
He says while the pandemic has brought problems, it has shown some realities of what the world is.
“The effects of the pandemic on the African continent have been a blessing in disguise. It has been what I could call ‘a rude awakening of Africa’ because Africa was for the first time completely isolated in many ways. That forced us to begin thinking what do we do? We must find solutions to our problems including health problems. And that is why you see a lot of efforts by our researchers to find solutions for COVID-19,” Professor Nawangwe.
KI’s President Ole Petter Ottersen said many projects that have been set up in the name of global health have largely been short term and sort of ‘hit and run projects’.
He contends that there is a need to put into context collaboration the elements of long-term perspective and with ambitions to end up in policy changes and implementation of new knowledge in order to have a permanent change for the better when it comes to health policies.
According to Ottersen, this global pandemic has put the world at crossroads that requires more attention to be paid to the global challenges whose targets were set for 2030. He also highlighted the need to use this pandemic as an opportunity to bolster efforts to the goals of agenda 2030.
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