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The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), Prof. Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare, has suggested that the COVID-19 levy should be converted into a research and innovation fund to enable scientists to come up with new ideas for the accelerated development of the country.

"Let’s give research grants to scientists and innovators in the country and watch what will happen in the next 10 years.

You will see the kind of innovation that will come out.

“When we were prospecting for oil we spent billions of dollars because we believed it will pay for itself which it eventually did.


It is same with science if you fund it.

It may take some time but would eventually pay for itself,” he said.

Prof. Awandare, who was speaking at a research conference organised by the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) of the UG in Accra yesterday, added that “most of the new economies of the world such as Singapore and China invested in research and science before they got to where they are now.

“We don’t want to invest but we want to benefit.

 
It doesn’t work that way; you have to invest, you have to put in resources," he added.

The three-day conference was on the theme: “Innovative research for sustainable impact”.

A WACCBIP-Developing Excellence in Leadership Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS) II programme and the 10th anniversary celebration of WACCBIP were also launched at the event.

WACCBIP-Deltas African II
The $70 million programme is one of the biggest capacity-building initiatives for health research on the continent.

 
It is being implemented by Science for Africa Foundation (SFA) as part of efforts to build world-class research and scientific leaders for the Africa continent while strengthening institutions.

The second phase of the programme funds 14 consortia in nine African countries with WACCBIP as the lead institution in Ghana.

WACCBIP is one of World Bank’s Africa centres of excellence at the UG where it runs courses at the Master’s degree level and offers PhD and post-doctoral training.

It also organises short courses in bioinformatics, cell and molecular biology.

 
Budgetary funding
Prof. Awandare, who is also the founding Director of WACCBIP, further said that a portion of the national budget should be dedicated to research annually.

He commended the government for ensuring the passage of a Bill to establish a research and innovation fund; however, he said it was yet to be operationalised because a start-up fund had not been put in it.

Prof. Awandare also stressed the need for African countries to focus on science since there was no country in the world that had developed without priority on science and innovation.

The Deputy Director of Programmes of the Nairobi-based SFA, Dr Alphonsus Neba, said there was a lack of investment in transformative science and innovation in Africa.

He said countries on the continent only dedicated an average of 0.4 per cent of their national budget to research and development, as compared to a global average of between 1.4 to 1.7 per cent.

Dr Neba added that Africa had 17 per cent of the world's population but contributed only 2.6 per cent to global research output, and with 0.1 per cent of the world's patent. 

Health challenges
In a speech read on behalf of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, Prof. Francis Kasolo, by the Team Lead, Universal Health Coverage Life Course Cluster of WHO, Dr Sofonias Asrat, he said there were still many unanswered public health challenges and, therefore, called on researchers to help improve on the lives of people.

The Vice-Chancellor of the UG, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, acknowledged that the pursuit of innovative research for sustainable impact was not without challenges.

She said issues of ethical conduct, promotion of open science and equitable access to scientific knowledge and resources must be tackled.