By James Wakahiu
More funding is required to control communicable diseases particularly
in Africa and other developing countries which host refugees.
Dr Santino Severoni, Director of World Health Organization’s (WHO)
Department of Health and Migration, is calling on the international
community to channel more resources to such countries that are facing
financial challenges. He spoke during the opening of an international
conference on economic transformation for Africa at Mount Kenya
University’s (MKU) main campus in Thika, Kiambu County, on
Thursday.
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MKU Chancellor, Prof John Struthers. By James Wakahiu
The 8th annual international conference of the Centre for African
Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED) is being
held under the theme, “Fostering Economic Transformation in African
Ecosystems: The Impact of Trade, Infrastructure and innovation.” More
than 70 papers from renowned global scholars will be presented across
several parallel sessions during the two-day conference which is being
held on 27th and 28th of June 2024.
Photo/ Delegates follow conference proceedings.By James Wakahiu
“There is an ongoing discussion on health and immigration especially now that there are new infective vectors and the lack of essential protection where communicable diseases might appear like in the case
of tuberculosis which is associated with poverty and living conditions.
This is another area of concern,” said the WHO official.
Dr Severoni expressed concern that though there have been major
improvements in the control of communicable diseases such as malaria,
chronic ailments remain a major health challenge globally.
Photo/MKU VC,Prof Deagratius Jaganyi delivering his presentation.
There is rising mortality from lifestyle ailments such as cardial-vascular
diseases, diabetes and hypertension, among others, he noted.
“These diseases emerge from our personal choices of life like smoking
and drinking hence the need to invest in health promotion education for
populations on nutrition, risk factors and other unhealthy behaviours
like lack of exercise and how to avoid them.
Dr Severoni, a keynote speaker at the forum, has worked for governments, NGOs, and foundations in eastern Africa, central Asia, the Balkans, and Europe. His areas of expertise include global health, health sector reforms, health systems strengthening, health diplomacy, aid coordination effectiveness and management of complex emergencies.
Photo/ MKU Chancellor Prof. John Struthers and Mku Pro. Chancellor Dr. Vincent Gaitho confer during the conference.
Prof. Dr. Charles Mulli, Founder of Mully Children’s Family Trust (MCF) based in Machakos county, Kenya, was the second keynote speaker.
Welcoming delegates to the forum, the MKU Chancellor who is also Director at CAREED for University of the West of Scotland (UWS),Professor John Struthers, said this year’s meeting is significant as it is being held in Africa for the first time.
“This year’s conference is also noteworthy because of the number and range of papers being presented and the many African countries represented,” he said.
He added that proper communication has been lacking on issues of migrants who are not just in Africa but all over the world including Europe.
Photo/ Delegates who attended the conference in group photo.
Dr. Vincent Gaitho, Chairman of Council and Pro-Chancellor Mount
Kenya University said the seven pervious conferences of CAREED took
place in Scotland, Europe, at the University of the West of Scotland
(UWS). “The 8th International Conference marks the arrival of the “new
being” or the “new entity”, “new baby”, within our larger community.
This is a milestone achievement for both CAREED and for UWS for
having successfully nurtured the conference series at UWS through the
past seven years or over, which included the dreadful time of the
COVID 19 pandemic”.
Dr Gaitho said CAREED’s five key areas of interest”, namely,
commodities and exporting; logistics and supply chain management;
enterprise and entrepreneurship (including gender enterprise); enterprise
and entrepreneurship, governance and ethics” as shall be reflected in the
conference proceedings, should also be well ear-marked as areas of
future research and development in Africa by Africans.
“We must remind ourselves of the need to have the youth in African in
all what comes with this new entity. Available literature supports this
need of deliberate involvement (and not by chance!) of the youth on
every socio-economic transformation engagements in African including
the series of CAREED conferences,” he said.
The Pro-chancellor appreciated the WHO’s migration health discourse
guided more specifically, by the International Organization for
Migration and the Center for Health and Migration as significant entities
in international movements of goods and people and related logistics.
“We look forward to receive recommendations from this conference that
will be used in reaching out to more stakeholders to take advantage of
the conference proceedings and publications as tangible, action areas in
driving the future of the African Continent for the overall good of the
African people,” he said.
MKU Vice Councillor, Prof. Deogratius Jaganyi said the University of
the West of Scotland and MKU have continued to enjoy a synergetic partnership, exemplified by the recently concluded Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project. The project is funded by Innovate UK and partnered with Farmtrack Consulting, a private company in Kenya.
Photo/ MKU PRO Chancellor Dr. Vincent Gaitho addresses media while the VC, Deagratius Jaganyi looks on.
The VC said trade contributes to 15 per cent of Africas GDP, infrastructure development can boost economic growth by 2-3% annually, and innovation has the potential to increase productivity by up to 30%. “As we forge a united front towards fostering economic transformation in African ecosystems, the impact of trade, infrastructure, and innovation cannot be overemphasized,” he added.
Appreciating the delegates and speakers participating in the conference, Prof Jaganyi said these key themes are instrumental in supporting livelihoods and promoting economic prosperity across sub-Saharan Africa.
According to Prof Struthers, the year since the 7th Annual Conference
was held at the Paisley Campus of UWS in 2023 has been a busy and
eventful period for Careed, with many new members joining the centre.
Highlights include: the first Distinguished Lecture presentation by
Professor David Luke of the London School of Economics (LSE) based
on his recently co-edited book How Africa Trades; more short papers
written by CAREED colleagues for the centre’s Policy and Practice
Insights Series.
Photo/MKU Chancellor Struthers Prof. John Struthers receives a gift from his VC, Prof. Deogratius Jaganyi.
Last year, a new initiative by the renowned Royal Society of Edinburgh
(RSE) to promote links between Scottish Universities and African
Universities across a range of subject themes commenced. Prof
Struthers said CAREED will lead this RSE initiative in the area of
Enterprise and Economic Development.
Other key milestones during the past year have been the completion of
the African Agriculture Knowledge Training Partnership (AAKTP)
project in which MKU and Farmtrack Ltd in Kenya are partners. A new
agriculture project commenced in Nigeria at the end of 2023.
In the last year one year, a significant number of doctorate degrees were
awarded to CAREED research students, several of whom have joined
the academic staff at UWS in the School of Business and Creative
Industries.
On his part, Prof Mulli is a renowned social entrepreneur globally. He
established the children’s home, trust and Christian charitable
organisation in 1989, dedicating to providing dignified livelihoods to
children, youth, and marginalised members of society.
The joint planning committee for this year’s forum includes Dr Henry
Yatich of MKU and Dr Ephias Ruhode and Dr Mbusiro Chacha of UWS
and Deputy Director of CAREED, Dr Adebisi Adewole. The sponsors
for this year’s conference were Superior Homes (Kenya) Ltd;
Henderson Properties (Scotland); Overseas Students House (Ghana);
Grace Education (Kenya) and IEIS Ltd.
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