Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Herbal Medicine (ACEPHEM)
Background Malawi Government joined the World Bank initiative to establish Eastern & Southern Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence Project (ACE II) There are 24 ACE with each getting a funding of up to US$6 million over a period of five years The ACE project is aimed at strengthening higher education institutions to deliver quality postgraduate education
Why Public Health & Herbal Medicine Africa is experiencing a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases Injuries, Urban, Adolescence Herbal medicines are used as primary or complementary health care Herbs are a source of conventional medicine
Centre Purposes Enhancing PG training in Public Health/ or Herbal Medicine We have over 1357 undergraduate & 187 graduate students, 35 of which are doctoral students
Centre Purposes Networking
Centre Purposes Internationalization
Centre Purposes Resource mobilization
Centre Purposes Commercialization of products
Centre Leadership and Governance Director Two Deputy Directors International Advisory Board Chaired by Principal International and regional researchers Industry (i.e. PIL, Macra) Diaspora Malawians Steering Committee - Deans and Heads
Centre Activities Facilitate postgraduate training Curriculum development Catalytic potential for researchers Public Health and Herbal Medicine Agenda Short-course trainings/workshops
Centre Activities Support publications in peer-reviewed journals Implement faculty and students exchange programme Student’s internships Network with traditional healers and industry to commercialize products with the potential for the market
Areas of focus Public Health Injuries Adolescent health Urban Heath
Areas of focus Herbal Medicine Drug discovery Inventory creation Toxicity Drug-drug interactions Efficacy
Intended Outcomes To train at least 70 MSc/Mphil/Mmed students in Public Health/Herbal Medicine 26 PhD students in Public Health/Herbal Medicine 630 participants in short courses
National Partnerships MZUNI-Mzuzu University MUST- Malawi University of Science and Technology FRIM –Forest Research Institute of Malawi NBG- National Herbarium and Botanical Gardens MBS- Malawi Bureau of Standards MoH- Ministry of Health NTHUO- National Traditional Healers Umbrella Organization
International Partners Mbarara University of Science and Technology- Uganda Addis Ababa University- Ethiopia Copper Belt University- Zambia African Population Research Center (APHRC) Stellenbosch University – South Africa Strathclyde University-UK Andrews University-United States Cheng Foundation
Acknowledgements Ministry of Education Science and Technology Ministry of Health Vice Chancellor UNIMA World Bank – Malawi National Assembly