The Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC), hosted a nine-member team of research collaborators of the Navrongo Integrated Surveillance Project (NISP) from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), USA, the Navy Medical Research Unit-3 (NAMRU-3) and the Henry Jacksons Foundation, USA for a familiarization and assessment of activities of the NISP project which commenced about a month ago.
During the two-day visit, which was from 26th to 27th May 2022, the team held a deliberative meeting with management of NHRC to apprise themselves with the various activities of the departments and sections of the Centre, particularly those of the Biomedical Laboratory and the Clinical Trials Centre.
In an interaction, the Acting Director of the Centre, Dr. Patrick Ansah remarked that the NISP study is one of the biggest studies being conducted by the Centre for the next few years. He expressed gratitude for the visit and for the support in positioning the Centre to undertake significant research to improve public health. Dr. Ansah assured the collaborators of the Centre’s commitment to execute every detail of the NISP study to its successful completion.
Co-Investigator of the NISP study and head of the Biomedical Science Department, Dr. Victor Asoala in a statement expressed delight that the project has finally come to fruition, despite the initial challenges encountered at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. He thanked the team for the visit and observed that the NISP study has the prospects of deepening the existing collaboration between the Centre and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), USA.
The 9-member team led by Dr. Nelson Michael, Director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) conveyed their appreciation to the management and staff of the Centre for the reception and commended the Centre for the enormous work being done with various collaborators. “Our ability to partner with you stands on the shoulders of the giants that you are. So, it is true that we sat on the sidelines for almost two and half years but we are back.” Dr. Nelson indicated.
Other members of the team include infectious disease specialists, physicians with specialties in clinical trials and vaccine development and project managers.  The Navrongo Integrated Surveillance Project has Dr. Michael Kaburise as the Principal Investigator, Dr. Victor Asoala Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Cornelius Debpuur, Principal Investigator for the social aspect of the study and Ms. Deborah Nawortey, Project Coordinator.
The NISP study seeks to determine the infectious etiologies and their frequencies among adult patients with acute fever or other severe acute illnesses with a suspected infectious source presented to hospitals in West Africa where such studies are being conducted.