GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in partnership with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), is providing an opportunity for 25 researchers to receive training in research methods in tuberculosis.

The 2-week short course is expected to build the capacities and skills of young researchers drawn across the West African sub-region and guide them in asking the right questions to combat tuberculosis.

Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo attributed the persistence of tuberculosis to poverty and stressed on the need for collaborative efforts to stem the disease.

“TB refuses to go away and that’s because poverty continues to stay with us. And remember that there are other several risk factors and I am only dwelling on poverty and so what it means is that, we will continue to have TB with us,” he said.

The Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare revealed that Ghana is expected to produce vaccines for tuberculosis and malaria next year.

Dr. Nsiah-Asare mentioned that tuberculosis and malaria vaccines would be produced at the National Vaccine Institute to improve the healthcare system.

“Ghana will be a vaccine manufacturing hub in Africa and God being so good there are two factories, and one of them is finished. As we speak, the process of manufacturing anti-snake vaccines is ongoing in one of the factories.

“The other one has come out of the soft structure, and by the second quarter of next year, it will start producing at least fill and finish, and from the upstream to the downstream its own vaccines.

“TB vaccines will be one of the vaccines that we will be producing in Ghana. The good thing is that we shall also be doing fill and finish and also the drug product. Fill and finish for the new R21 malaria vaccines in Ghana,” he said.

He also mentioned that the European Union has supported Ghana with 32 million Euros to produce vaccines.

“I am also happy to inform you that the European Union has agreed to give Ghana 32 million Euros in our vaccines manufacturing initiative,” he said.

Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson encouraged the participants to "seize the opportunities presented here today to forge new collaborations and networks."