Dr. James Tanu Duworko, Director of the Partnership for Research on Vaccines and Infectious Diseases in Liberia (PREVAIL), participated in the CelebrateLAB West Africa Conference 2023 held in Abuja, Nigeria, April 24-30, 2023. The conference theme was “Empowering the Laboratory for Surveillance, Research, and Early Detection of Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases.” The conference served as a platform to share knowledge, experiences and best practices in the field of disease surveillance and research.
The objectives of the meeting were to:
- Provide a venue for stakeholders across West Africa to access new information pertinent to laboratory system strengthening (LSS).
- Provide continuing education to medical laboratory professionals.
- Network and share best practices across the West Africa region.
- Develop public-private partnerships to enhance the LSS environment.
- Strengthen the labor force for cross-border skills, knowledge and experience in trade.
During the conference, Dr. Duworko gave a 10-minute presentation on PREVAIL, which highlighted the organization’s work over the years, recent achievements, goals for the future and a summary of PREVAIL’s work in global health. Duworko discussed FHI Clinical’s partnership with PREVAIL, the research the organizations conducted on Ebola virus disease (EVD) vaccine studies and the immense contribution to global public health interventions the partnership has produced. He also mentioned the challenges with community outreach the research team overcame during the early stages of the EVD vaccine studies.
He served as a panelist alongside other experts to discuss and take questions from the audience on the following conference topics:
- Clinical Research, Surveillance, & Global Health, and The Role of Emergency Care Services in Surveillance and Pandemic Preparedness.
- Developing the Capacity and Expertise of Professionals in Clinical Trials: Addressing Challenges of Processes and Regulations about Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases.
- Biogenetic Implications of Lassa Fever Virus Transmission, Recent Epidemics in West Africa, and Public Health Challenges.
On the last topic, he gave a presentation on Lassa fever and PREVAIL’s role in its prevention, by explaining the Phase 1 and Phase 2A vaccine studies in which the entity is currently involved.
