The Japanese Prime Minister, Kishida Fumio, says his country will deepen its collaboration with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) to conduct more research into infectious diseases.
That, he said, would be Japan's contribution to promoting universal health coverage through tackling infectious diseases like malaria, which are killing many people in Africa.
"Many people are still losing their lives in Africa to various tropical diseases like malaria," he said, when he toured the NMIMR on Monday as part of his one-day official working visit to Ghana.
MrKishida who is the second prime minister to visit Ghana after former Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro did 17 years ago(2006), was in the country to solidify Japan's bilateral relations with Ghana as part of his visit to Africa.
His tour of the NMIMR makes him the first Japanese Prime Minister to have visited the facility which was built by the Japanese government in 1979, for Ghana in honour of Japanese researcher, DrHideyo Noguchi, who died from yellow fever in Ghana in 1928 while researching onthe disease in the country.
The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction with the facility and the important place it occupies in the relationship between Ghana and Japan following the demise of the late Noguchi.
He commended the University of Ghana management for the critical role the institute played in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic not only in Ghana but in the West African Region.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Nana Aba AppiahAmfo, who led the university management to welcome the Prime Minister, described the historic visit as a show of Japan's commitment to the institute.
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She said the friendship between the two countries had yielded results in the form of training of high quality human resources in Japan as well as provision of resources at the university for them to utilise the skills developed in Japan.
She said Japan's investment in the NMIMR resulted in the institute's capacity to handle the COVID-19 timely diagnosis and support and training of scientists in the region.
She said the introduction of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Chair lecture series in March this year, was in furtherance of the growing friendship between the university and Japan.
"We look forward to more fruitful collaboration in the future," she said, and expressed gratitude to the Japanese government for its support to the Institute since its establishment.
