Categories
COVID-19 General

Prof. Samba Sow receives Speak Up Africa Award

We are very pleased to announce that Professor Samba Sow, Director General of CVD-Mali, has been awarded the Speak Up Africa Leadership Award for 2021.

Launched in 2019, this award aims to recognise and celebrate institutions and individuals who demonstrate exemplary leadership in sustainable development and whose initiatives are having a positive impact on the African continent.

Receiving his award, Professor Sow said:

I thank Speak Up Africa for the 2021 Leadership Award.

It is a pleasure to collaborate with an organisation that shares my values, and which highlights talented African Voices of Science in the four corners of our continent.

Only when all sectors of society work together and pull in the same direction will we achieve our common goals.

According to CDC Africa, Africa currently produces only 1% of the vaccines needed by its 1.3 billion people. This has to change.

Prof. Samba Sow

The other recipients of the 2021 award are Mr Serigne Mbaye Thiam, Minister of Water and Sanitation in Senegal, Ms Sarah Diouf, Founder and Creative Director of Tongoro, Mr Harouna Drabo, a Journalist in Burkina Faso and Dr Odry Agbessy, President of the VIA-ME organisation.

Based in Dakar, Senegal, Speak Up Africa is a non-profit strategic communications and advocacy organisation dedicated to catalysing African leadership, promoting policy change and raising awareness based on sustainable development in Africa.

Putting the improvement of public health at the heart of its work, Speak Up Africa supports the achievement of SDGs 1-6, which include the transformation of African societies and ensuring that every man, woman and child is able to live a long and healthy life.

Heartfelt thanks to the teams at Speak Up Africa and CVD-Mali!

Categories
COVID-19

Solidarity Trial Vaccines to combat Covid-19 launched in Mali

WHO and the Ministries of Health of Colombia, Mali and the Philippines have announced the official launch of the Solidarity Trial Vaccines study.

CVD-Mali is very proud to manage and implement the trial in Mali on behalf of the national government.

Solidarity Trial Vaccines is an international randomised clinical trial platform designed to rapidly evaluate the efficacy and safety of new candidate vaccines.

These promising vaccines were selected by an independent vaccine prioritisation advisory group, consisting of leading scientists and experts, and the study has received approval from all regulatory authorities and ethics committees in Mali.

Researchers in Mali have therefore begun recruiting volunteers for the trial, which will soon be expanded to include multiple sites in the country.

Categories
COVID-19 General

Prof Sow and CVD-Mali receive dual honours!

We are extremely pleased to announce that CVD-Mali’s Director General, Professor Samba Sow, has today been honoured both by the Government of Mali and the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (USA) for work in public health and emergency preparedness.

In a ceremony in Bamako today, Prof Sow was made a Commander of the National Order of Mali.

Prime Minister and Head of the National Order of Mali, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, presents Professor Sow with his award

It was also announced that Prof Sow has been elected to the United States’ National Academy of Medicine,

for groundbreaking vaccine field studies … pioneering studies of disease burden and etiology … and leadership in control of emerging infections (Ebola, COVID-19) in Mali and West Africa.

All at CVD-Mali congratulate him warmly – and Professor Sow in turn is proud to accept both awards on behalf of the dedicated and devoted CVD-Mali family in its entirety.

Félicitations!