UNESCO-MARS aims to bring together researchers from across Africa to discuss the generation, sharing and dissemination of research data and to prepare for the road ahead in Africa’s development as an international hub for research excellence and scientific innovation. The annual Summit aims to contribute to building research capacity in the African research community, with special focus on “Infectious Diseases and Women Health”. The Summit will also showcase innovative research taking place in projects, programs and initiatives across African universities, and by the wider African research community. The summit is a unique opportunity for Africa’s young and talented scientists to share their research output and findings with the top echelon of scientists from Africa and abroad. It is also an opportunity for networking and career development. The Summit will presents a platform where young scientists will be able to discuss the enabling environment for better research among others.
The UNESCO-MERCK initiative was born from the idea of improving the cooperation between public research institutes, operating in Africa in the domain of life and chemical sciences, and the global private sector, notably the pharmaceutical industry.
Scientific research in the life sciences and health is recognised as a fundamental component of effective health systems, and the need to perform such research should be considered a priority in counties where health challenges constitute a burden to economic productivity and sustainable development. Research into many of the diseases which afflict the world’s poorest people is neglected for financial, scientific, or political reasons; and there is a huge global inequality in the resources devoted to life science research, and only small proportion benefit countries where the majority of preventable deaths occur.
UNESCO-MARS 2016 in partnership with Federal Ministry of Health, Ethiopia will be officially inaugurated on 28th November 2016
