In the framework of collaboration between Dr NONO KONGUEP Justin, senior researcher at IMPM, Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, IMPM received from may 12 to 16, 2004, Professor Poppy Lamberton and Docteur Sergi Alonso of the University of Glasgow.
Prof. Lamberton is a world-renowned parasitologist and field epidemiologist from the University of Glasgow in the UK. Prof. Lamberton and Dr Nono initially met as co-chairs of the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance Research working group in 2019 and went on to successfully secure research and social responsiveness grants from the UK Royal Society. They also organized an online international conference together during the heat period of the COVID crisis in 2020.They recurrently exchanged their shared visions regarding the control of schistosomiasis during meetings in Copenhagen, London and Glasgow, culminating in a joint publication two months ago.
It was during an invitation to the University of Glasgow in 2022 under a Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded workshop on schistosomiasis that Dr Nono met with Dr Sergi Alonso from Prof Lamberton group, a prolific health economist, and later went on to secure an international research development grant from the University of Glasgow which iscurrently ongoing. Prof. Lamberton, Dr Alonso and Dr Nono are working on schistosomiasis and are co-investigators on the GCID grant.
The main aim of Dr Nono’s research group at IMPM is related to the vision of the national control program in Cameroon, which is the elimination of schistosomiasis. This is a massive paradigm shift at a time where control as a public health problem is still sought after. Therefore, such an endeavour requires innovative approaches rooted into widely transdisciplinary alliances to maximise the reach of their expertise and uplift the impact of their research endeavours.
The host arrived in Cameroon on May 12, 2024. The following day, they were received at IMPM by the Deputy Director General of IMPM and the Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and the Unit of Immunobiology and Helminth infections (IBHI), Dr Nono. They had a meeting with the IBHI researchers chaired by the Deputy General. The meeting was followed by a visit of IMPM laboratories.
On May 14, 2024, they gave presentations in the IMPM conference Hall. It was attended by IMPM researchers, students from the University of Yaounde I, officials from the Ministry of Public Health including the coordinator of the national program of fight against schistosomiasis, Pr. Tchuem Tchuente.
Prof Poppy’s talk was entitled « An Interdisciplinary Approach to Identifying Sustainable Popular and Cost-effective Interventions for Schistosomiasis » while Dr Alonso’s presentation was on « Health Economics to Inform Global Heath policy ».
On 15 May 2024, the guests, accompanied by Dr Nono visited the Deputy Director in charge of school health at the Ministry of Basic Education. After, they visited the headquarters of “Evidence for Research”, a team of biostatisticians working with the IBHI unit. The team then visited the national schistosomiasis control programme, where they gave presentations and exchanged views with staff.
