Speaking at the start of the Emmet Dennis Scientific Conference currently taking place at the EJS Ministerial Complex in congo town, the Director General of the public health institute OF Liberia, and Africa Scientist Award winner told a gathering of scientist that ‘under his watch, Liberia will never be a place for commercialization of outbreaks’,
Dr. Nyan stated that circumstances that led to former NPHIL Director General Mosoka Fallah Resignation will never happened.
“I’m not sure if the fate that befell Dr. Mosoka Fallah will be the same fate that befell me. And so, I would like you to understand that at this point, under my guidance, the National Public Health Institute will not be used for commercialization of outbreaks.
The National Public Health Institute of Liberia, under the guidance of the Africa CDC and other partners, will not be used to monetize outbreaks and to affect the health and life of our people. We will not.” Dr. Chrsitopher Nyan vows .
Dr. Nyan statement comes a week since the NPHIL Publicly disagreed with the Ministry of Health following its announcement that there was presence of Viral Haemorrhagic fever pathogens/VH in many southeastern countries of Liberia.
NPHIL in a release swiftly distance itself from the Ministry of Health declaration.
The NPHIL state that there is NO Viral Haemorrhagic fever pathogens/VHF Detected as all specimens tested proves negative and rubbished last Wednesday’s alert by the Ministry of Health of an outbreak of Viral Haemorrhagic fever pathogens (VHF) outbreak in Liberia.
In a statement by the National Public Health Institute of Liberia, stated that NPHIL regularly and routinely conducts surveillance and laboratory tests for Viral Haemorrhagic fever pathogens (VHF) which include Ebola virus and Marburg virus.
Also speaking at the Emmet Dennis scientific conference is former Health Minister and Dean of the University of Liberia school of public Health Dr. Bernice T. Dahn, who calls for the non-politicization of the Health sector.
Dr. DAHN recounted events leading to the opening of the school of pUblic Health at the University of Liberia, and call on professionals to enroll.
“We ask that you should attend the Establishment School of Public Health. I didn’t know I was the only person in the Establishment School. So today we have the PhD, Masters, and next week we will be having orientation for PhD students.
It will interest you to know that there are two PhD programs that are being introduced next week. Public Health with emphasis on epidemiology, biostatistics, and mental health. And the second one is Biomedical Sciences with emphasis on epidemiology, biostatistics, and microbiology.
And those decisions were made because the nation has asked countries to prepare for the next outbreak. So we are preparing for the next outbreak. And I know last year when the President launched the PhD program, the political side of it, people were concerned about the capacities that we have in the country.” Dr. Dahn recounted.
She however, raised optimasm of the aboudance of resources Liberia has in providing training for greater things in the health sector and research.
“But if you visit our institutions today, you will realize that we have more resources in the country that we are able to collaborate, we can provide quality training, and we can do great things. There were two weeks ago that the University of Saint-Gobain wrote about understanding with the National Public Health Institute to use the NAO2 ring for training. We are doing partnerships with the field and through the NIH we established You know, there are concerns.
Prevail was established by the Nigerian government and the U.S. government during the Ebola outbreak, for the Ebola vaccine trials. And since then we have continued with clinical research. We’ve done about 15 different clinical research to date.
And there have been concerns about the daily, most of the finances come from the U.S. government. And there have been concerns about if the U.S. government withdraw today, what will happen to scientific research in Liberia? And because of that concern, we established what we call RETEAM, Research Sustainability in Liberia. And there are our system partners, international, local, and some of the local universities as well.
We are moving ahead with building capacities and strengthening our systems. And as a country, we need to learn how to work together to deliver the best for the country. And the technical institutions will stay as technical institutions.” Dr. Dahn told scientist at the Emmett Denis SCENTIFIC CONFERENCE.
For his part, House Health committee chair, and SINOE COUNTY Representative SAMSON Waih, call for an end to continued wrift between the Ministry of Health and the NPHIL.
Hon. Waih stated that the decision to detached the Division of Environmental and Organizational Health from the Ministry of Health, as well as the Division of Solid Waste, which was the DPC at the time, as accelrated a struggle between the Ministry of Health and the National PublicHealth Institute of Liberia which must be handle quickly.
“When Dr. Dahn was making that decision to established NPHIL, she was not fighting anybody. Today, we have the WHO, the Africa CDC, the APFENET, and the rest of the partners, U.S.CDC, working with NPHIL making sure that the NHPIL will remain impactful across this country.
It was disheartening in recent times for us as politicians to realize that there is a struggle over what is VHF negative and VHF positive.
We should not embarrass this country. We shouldn’t embarrass this country. One of the best things that our president has done for us is to bring to Liberia a fellow country from OVERSEAS to help us, He can compared the United States Dr. Fauci And is serious awards winner of international honrs . I am pleased to speak as a politician, because we are not moving in the right direction. We will have to do the best our lives.
Madam Minister, please be prepared for what will happen. Let me know, as we move in today, that the contribution of this entire community of us is facilitating and promoting the promotion of local research, by unifying the voices of Liberian scientists and building a repository of knowledge specific to our nation’s context.
It is also fostering collaboration by bringing together diverse experts to tackle interdisciplinary problems, thereby strengthening our professional networks. For many of our young researchers, this conference is an indispensable forum for capacity building, providing them with the experience and connections essential to deploying our next. Hon. SAMSON Waih stated .
