The 8th African Conference on One Health and Biosecurity, which will be hosted by the Lagos State Government in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation, Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium, is expected to bring together no less than 400 global health, security, and environmental experts, policymakers, and researchers from Africa and other continents.
The three-day conference , to hold from Wednesday 2nd to Friday 4th November, 2022, will focus on “Strengthening Health Security and Mitigating Biological Threats in Africa,” according to a statement released on Sunday by Mr Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, director of Public Affairs for the Lagos State Ministry of Health. The conference is scheduled to begin at 8am each day at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island.
“One of the largest annual biosecurity conferences in Africa, the 8th African Conference on One Health and Biosecurity seeks to ensure that the African continent strengthens its health security to reduce biological threats and build on successes in combating various emerging infectious diseases,” he said.
Ogunbanwo went on to say that the conference will give experts from Africa and other parts of the world a platform to share knowledge and expertise on biological threats, discuss the phenomenon of rising outbreak and pandemic incidence globally, and offer solutions to other environmental and global health problems.
“We have over 400 specialists from across the world coming to Lagos to share their knowledge and skills on biological threats, biosecurity, and the WHO idea of one health,” he said, “which the Lagos State Government has committed to and is consistently supporting in theory and practice.”
Ogunbanwo noted that the conference will feature internationally renowned speakers, including the Director General of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, and the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security of the United States, Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins.
Other speakers according to him are Director Center for Global Health Science and Security, Prof. Rebecca Katz; Professor of Public Health, University of Kenya, Nairobi, Professor William Ogara; Deputy Director, United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) Africa, Dr. Richard Munang; Director, Centre for Biosecurity Studies, University of West Indies, Barbados, Dr. Kirk Douglas; Head of Epidemic and Public Health Laboratory Systems and Network, West Africa Health Organization, Dr. Abdourahmane Sow; Head Special Non-Proliferation and UNSCR 1540 Implementation Initiative, Dr. O'Neil Hamilton amongst others.
“Resolutions at this conference are intended to help chart a constructive route for strategic reaction against Biosecurity challenges in Lagos, Africa, and by extension, the globe,” Ogunbanwo stated.
