The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) was founded in 1952 with a core mandate to lead the drive into the technological age through the provision of higher education, scientific research, and dissemination of knowledge.
Vision
The vision of KNUST is to advance knowledge in science and technology for sustainable development in Africa. KNUST seeks to provide an environment for teaching, research and entrepreneurship training in science and technology for industrial and socio-economic development at the national and continental level with the ultimate goal of making an impact on a global scale. KNUST also offers service to community, and is strategically positioned to attract scholars, industrialists and entrepreneurs from Africa and the international community.
KNUST provided a solid backbone upon which the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research into Tropical Medicine (KCCR) was established in concert with the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), Germany and the Ministry of Health in Ghana. KCCR has been in the vanguard of medical research in Ghana and is a hub for international research collaborations with an immense output of scientific contributions that have impacted the lives of several Ghanaians and significantly contributed to the body of scientific knowledge worldwide.
Achievements
KCCR is also a very important platform for the training of young and upcoming Scientists in advanced scientific approaches in molecular biology and field research through both community and laboratory-based research projects. KCCR seeks to become an independent interdisciplinary research centre of conceptual and technological excellence in biomedicine, agriculture and ecology and to develop, promote, provide and apply study designs and molecular tools for the advancement of these disciplines. KCCR has over the years been the nucleus of several international research efforts in globally relevant public health issues involving neglected tropical diseases, emerging and re-emerging zoonotic pathogens and drug resistance.
Role in PANDORA
KCCR’s role in the PANDORA-ID-NET consortium is mainly linked to work package 7 within the scope of objectives 1 and 2 which are to:
Specifically, KCCR seeks to strengthen laboratory capacity of the regional reference hospital to enhance availability of accurate and reliable data for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of disease and to improve the human capacity to provide this service.