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AERAP Africa-Europe Science and Innovation Forum, 7 - 10 March 2023
The Forum will be designed to inform and engage with policymakers to ensure that the role and contribution of science, enabled through digital technologies, is reflected in European Union and its Member States’ policies concerning Africa. The meetings will also be designed to increase the level of participation and reinforce the networking by African nations’ with their partners in related EU programmes and science and innovation programmes supported by European Union member states and some associated countries. Digital capacities, existing and new, for expanding science inclusion and citizen participation by all groups in society across Africa, will be explored.
Key policy and programme developments include:
The meeting will address a range of themes, including Biodiversity Health, Medicine, Life Sciences, Geoscience, ICT, Digital Transformation, the Green Agenda, Women and Girls in science, Astronomy, reskilling and upskilling and Agri-food systems. In the Forum, we will examine the feedback loops between scientific funding, education funding, and digital transformation to support evidence for policymakers.

The meeting will also consider how emerging regulations covering data protection, medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics, and other areas impact science in Africa and science and innovation cooperation between Africa and the European Union.

The global context will be considered through the inclusion of speakers from the UN, OECD and other multilateral bodies.

The programme below is still in development so please check it regularly for updates.
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Friday, March 10 • 11:00am - 1:00pm
(10078) How Genomics will contribute to healthcare delivery in Africa

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(10078) HOW GENOMICS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO HEALTHCARE DELIVERY IN AFRICA

The proposed session will focus primarily on genomics within a developing world context and with reference to the SDGs, providing early stage guidance to regulators and policymakers globally to create the enabling environment for genomics healthcare.

In Africa, genomics research has the potential to improve healthcare delivery in several ways.
Speaker 1 will give an overview of results from the EU-Africa PerMed Project unpacking the inherent gaps, needs and areas of interest to develop the personalized medicine in Africa. Giving a view of the African PM ecosystem.

The session will move onto explore how medical genomics uses genomic data to better understand the genetic and molecular basis of health, disease and drug responses. The major applications are to improve the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease, and to accelerate the development of new and better diagnostics, drugs and biologicals such as antibodies and vaccines. Speaker 2 will convey current context of the level of genomics testing services offered within African Healthcare systems.

Furthermore, genomics research can also improve our understanding of the genetic diversity in Africa and how it relates to disease susceptibility and drug response. This can inform the development of more effective and culturally appropriate treatments for African populations. Speaker 3 will outline the development of the Tunisian Genome program and the vision toward Personalised Medicine.

Overall, genomics has the potential to significantly improve healthcare delivery in Africa in the coming decades, but careful planning and ethical considerations are needed to ensure that the benefits are realized and the challenges are addressed.

Summary of speaker topics:
Speaker 1: Rizwana Mia- SAMRC & EU-Africa PerMed "The gaps, needs and Areas of interest for development of Personalized Medicine in Africa"

Speaker 2: TBA speaker from Small/Medium Biotech industry- topic "Enabling and delivery of Genomics testing for Healthcare delivery in Africa"

Speaker 3: Yosr Hamdi- Institute Pasteur -Tunis & H3Africa -Topic "Development of the Tunisia genome project toward Personalised Medicine in Tunisia"


Speakers
avatar for Rizwana Mia

Rizwana Mia

Senior Program Manager -Precision Medicine, Medical Research Council South Africa
Rizwana Mia joined the SAMRC in February 2015. She is responsible for developing the South African Precision Medicine program and incorporating the South African Precision Medicine Think Tank. She has spearheaded strategic partnerships in creating programmatic research as well as... Read More →
avatar for Yosr Hamdi

Yosr Hamdi

Pasteur Institute Tunis
Yosr Hamdi is a biologist and research assistant at Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunisia. She is a specialist in cancer genomics and precision oncology. Dr. Hamdi is a member of several international Consortia, including BCAC, CIMBA, H3ABioNet, and H3Africa. She serves on the advisory... Read More →
VR

Veron Ramsuran

University of KwaZulu-Natal
Prof Veron Ramsuran graduated with a PhD in Genetics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He was then recruited to join the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard as a post-doctoral research fellow, during which he had a joint affiliation with the National Institute of Health (NIH... Read More →


Friday March 10, 2023 11:00am - 1:00pm CET
Online only