Public Agenda (Accra)
Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng
18 August 2008
A renowned Natural Scientist and an Engineering researcher, Dr. Peter Atadja, is advocating for parliament to institute a permanent funding for scientific research in the country.
The legislation, he explained should compel present and successive governments to set aside 1% or more of GDP for the purpose of scientific research. This he said would enable Ghanaian scientific researchers to venture into innovative biomedical research areas.
Dr. Atadja who also doubles as a senior investigator at the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research Incorporated, asked for a 'strong and passionate lobbying' for the establishment of a "brave scientific policy" in Ghana. The learned researcher was delivering a keynote address at the first ever Ghana Biomedical Convention, which ended on Friday.
The Biomedical forum, which is the first of its kind in the West African subregion, seeks to build collaborations among scientific researchers and disseminate scientific information among Ghanaian biomedical scientists and their diasporan counterparts. The conference is also expected to create a platform for Ghanaian biomedical researchers to present and learn new technologies in modern biomedicine practice; that will help health practitioners provide good healthcare services to Ghanaians.
He identified inadequate support structure, lack of funding for basic research, and poor scientific intellectual regimes as challenges affecting the growth of research in the country. Dr. Atadja however mentioned capacity building and the creation of a culture of innovation as well as making Ghana a destination of outsourcing project in the future, as some benefits the country stands to gain.
"Developing a culture of delayed gratification, in order to put in place policies that would benefit the next generation is paramount", he said. He urged scientists and all stakeholders to emphasize science education at both the graduate and the postgraduate levels in higher institutions of learning.
Dr. Atadja noted that modern drug discovery and its development process is an expensive venture but said drugs with natural sources are being used more today than synthetic ones. Citing the US Health Department and the Pharmaceutical industries as expending over 70billion dollars over the past four years in this venture, he observed that Ghana, which has a vast natural biodiversity, could lead the way in Africa, by producing drugs of natural sources that are on high demand by international pharmaceutical companies.
He also dared the Ghanaian youth to aspire to attain greater goals, and added that the youth should improve upon their current condition.
With the subsequent formulation, institution and implementation of a coherent scientific policy in the country, Ghana may reap the benefits that countries like South Africa, India, Brazil, and Cuba are making in the area of biotechnology. As a result, the country, which already has a draft biotechnological strategy in place, is expected to revise the strategy to imbibe new approaches currently being used by other successful countries. In this regard, South Africa's projected 2% contribution from the biotechnology to their National Gross Domestic Product by 2018 would be an example for Ghana to learn from.
In view of this, some participants proposed the establishment of a robust bioscience enterprise and biotechnology industry as a core area to boost economic development in Ghana.
In most part of the world, disease is considered as a harmful deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an organism. Moreover, a diseased organism commonly exhibits signs or symptoms indicative of its abnormal state. Nevertheless, there exist a close link between disease and health.
Dr. Atadja explains that modern drug discovery and development involves a multi-stage process that incorporates diverse technologies and skills. He added that understanding disease mechanisms and target identification are important in discovering courses and drugs for diseases.
Dr Peter Atadja's pioneering research in cancer epigenetic led to the development of panobinostat that inhibit tumor cell growth in the body. The drug has been demonstrated to be an effective anti-tumor drug in most laboratories.
According to the Provost of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Ghana, Professor Harold Lawson, the theme of the convention: (opportunities and challenges of new technologies in Biomedicine), would help address problems in development of contemporary Ghanaian biomedical research discourse. He expressed the hope that experiences that participants would share at the three-day convention would help tap the untapped Ghanaian natural drug knowledge and that of the Diasporan-Ghanaian biomedical resources.
Professor Lawson, welcoming participants to the convention, noted that the forum, which will be organize annually, will afford Ghanaian biomedical scientists both home and abroad the opportunity to interact among themselves, and help them identify common areas of collaboration with mutual benefit.
The Dean of the faculty of Engineering Science, Professor Sefa-Dedeh, while encouraging participants to create awareness of biomedical sciences, emphasized the need to generate interest among students and the public, so that they would understand and appreciate biomedical sciences.
Participants in the three-day programme include Ghanaian scientists practicing abroad and home, researchers from the country's scientific research institutions such as Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and Faculty of Engineering Sciences as well as Science students from University of Ghana medical school and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
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