Picture above: IHVN Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Patrick Dakum, addressing journalists flanked by Executive Director of the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE), Prof. Alash’le Abimiku and IHVN Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director, Dr. Charles Olalekan Mensah.
The Chief Executive Officer of Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), Dr. Patrick Dakum, has said that the Institute’s seven story towers in Abuja will provide a platform for global and local partnerships to combat diseases.
Dr Dakum stated this at a press briefing in Abuja to announce the commissioning of the IHVN Campus scheduled to hold on June 5th and 6th, 2023.
“For over 19 years since our establishment as a non-governmental organization, we have addressed the HIV crisis in Nigeria by developing infrastructure for treatment, care, prevention, and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. We have over time expanded our services to cover other communicable and non-communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, cancer, COVID-19 and other emerging diseases. In 2015, we established the International Research Center of Excellence to promote public/private partnerships for quality health services, capacity building and research in West Africa.”
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the Institute’s International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE), Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, said that IRCE has conducted targeted research relevant to the challenges faced locally.
“The research we do must inform better management of diseases in the populations we serve. First of all, we have to understand the peculiarities of these diseases within the population. Through our Clinical Trial Unit, we can conduct clinical trials that specifically state how vaccines or drugs work in our population and the adverse effects observed. That information goes to policy makers and the government,” she said.
She added that IRCE is also supporting the government in the areas of epidemic preparedness. “Some of the research that we have done and are still doing just like in Long-COVID is to understand how we react to pandemics so that we are better prepared for the next pandemic.”
The IHVN Campus hosts laboratories including a bio-repository to collect, process and store samples for research.
IHVN Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Dr. Charles Olalekan Mensah added that with the first phase of the campus completed, the Institute is working towards completion of the second and third phase, which includes a multi-level car park, conference center and residential hotel.