WAHO Networks Identified Centres of Excellence / Reference Centres on Traditional Medicine
Sally Portudal, Senegal- The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) organised a small group meeting of identified Centres of Excellence/Reference Centres on Traditional Medicine in Sally Portudal-Senegal, from 21 - 22 October 2019.
The meeting brought together representatives of some institutions established under the Ministries of Health to engage in research and development of traditional medicines to explore ways of fostering collaboration among them, with a view to strengthening their capacity to support the work of WAHO.
Key among the participating institutions included the Mampong Centre for Plant Medicine Research in Ghana, which was established in 1975 and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development in Nigeria, established in 1989.
Representatives from Burkina Faso, which is currently constructing a Reference Centre of Traditional Medicine and Integrated Care of with a State budget of 3 billion FCFA, and Côte d'Ivoire, where the State has granted a plot of 30 ha for the imminent construction of the National Research Institute in Traditional Medicine, also participated in this important meeting.
Participants shared information on the work of their respective centres and explored ways of working together to achieve maximum population impact.
Participants proposed a road map for networking the identified Centres of Excellence/Reference Centres with a view to acquiring the status of WAHO Collaborating Centres.
At the end of two days of stimulating discussions, participants made the following recommendations:
To WAHO
- To recognise the identified Traditional Medicine Centres of Excellence/Reference Centres as WAHO Collaborating Centres and to provide them with the necessary financial and technical support.
- To promote collaboration between the Centres of Excellence and the colleges of health, research institutions and other relevant stakeholders.
- To establish a Committee of Experts from the membership of this meeting to support the promotion of the Centres of Excellence.
- To support the identified institutions to embark on inter-country visits for knowledge and experience sharing.
To countries
- To support research on Traditional Medicine at the Centres of Excellence/Reference Centres.
- To promote collaboration between the Centres of Excellence and Traditional Medicine Practitioners.
To identified Centres of Excellence/Reference Centres on Traditional Medicine
- To promote research on Traditional Medicine.
- To strengthen collaboration with the colleges of health and other research institutions in the countries and within the ECOWAS region.
- To support WAHO in promoting the integration of Traditional Medicine into the national health systems of the ECOWAS Member States.
Participants expressed their sincere gratitude to WAHO for the initiative to network the identified Centres of Excellence/Reference Centres on Traditional Medicine to enable them play a meaningful role in promoting rational Traditional Medicine practices and research and development activities in the ECOWAS region.