By Samira Larbie
Accra, Nov 18, GNA – Dr Anarfi Asamoah-Baah, the Presidential Coordinator for Ghana’s COVID-19 Response, has urged researchers to be creative in communicating Science data for better understanding and effective policy formulation.
He said effective communication of research findings was important to help the public make informed decisions saying, “at the moment, we tend to under communicate our research findings, once we publish, we think our work is done.
“But science communication is becoming more complex, especially in this era of miscommunication, so it is important to be creative in how we communicate science data,” Dr Asamoah-Baah said.
The Presidential Coordinator said this at the opening ceremony of Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) Annual Research Meeting, which is to disseminate research data for policy formulation.
It was on the theme: “Epidemics, Pandemics and Diseases of Public Health Importance: Bridging the Research-Policy Divide”.
The two-day event was for researchers, media, and stakeholders to share research findings and establish new collaborations.
Dr Asamoah-Baah asked researchers to deepen their understanding of policy making process, engage policy makers during early stages of research, improve the relevance of research and establish think tanks or policy institutes.
He said such strategies would bridge the gap, encourage policy makers to work with researchers and use more research findings in policy formulation.
Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana, said efforts were being made to improve scientific communication.
Professor Dorothy Yeboah-Manu, the Director NMIMR, said the excellent work done by researchers and students at the Institute was towards making the University of Ghana’s vision of becoming a world-class research-intensive university a reality.
The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, established in 1979, conducts research into diseases of public health importance to provide specialised diagnosis support for global health interventions and build the capacity of next generation of young scientists across the sub-region.
GNA