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28 September 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
Dr Martin Nyaga, Senior Lecturer and Researcher: NGS, will be heading the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre (WHO CC).
The University of the Free State (UFS) has been designated a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), and the university’s Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Unit, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), will for the next four years be conducting genome sequencing of pathogenic organisms, including rotavirus strains from the African continent. 

This centre will be part of the Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) Pathogens Genomics Cluster and will run from September 2020 to September 2024. 

Dr Martin Nyaga, Senior Lecturer and Researcher: NGS/Virology, who will be heading the WHO CC, says an institution is designated as a WHO CC by the WHO Director-General and endorsed by the host country’s minister of health to form part of an international collaborative network, carrying out activities in support of the WHO programmess at all levels. A designation as a WHO CC is a time-limited agreement of collaboration between WHO and the designated institution, through which the latter agrees to implement a series of concrete activities, specifically designed for WHO.

A supreme achievement

Says Dr Nyaga: “In my opinion, a WHO CC designation is one of the supreme achievements an institution can be conferred as a recognition for foregoing exceptional collaborative venture with the WHO and showing future potential to assist the WHO with its global programmes and in our case, the WHO Regional Office for Africa region to offer solutions to the WHO VPD Surveillance and pathogens genomics cluster.”

According to Dr Nyaga this designation was awarded to the UFS after the WHO was content with the outcome of a service contract whereby the UFS-NGS unit undertook a pilot rotavirus surveillance project at whole genome level, using two African countries for the pilot, Rwanda and Zambia.

“From the outcomes of the pilot surveillance project between 2017 and 2019, the WHO/AFRO was satisfied with the genomic data that was generated and partially disseminated in scientific databases and journals as a collaborative venture. 

“It was thus proposed to strengthen its existing collaboration with the UFS-NGS Unit, which initiated the application process to designate the UFS-NGS unit as a WHO CC, an initiative that has taken approximately 20 months to finalise through the different phases of the application and approvals for the designation,” explains Dr Nyaga.

The purpose of the WHO CC

The new WHO CC will upon request by the WHO, implement agreed work plans in a timely manner and to the highest possible standards of quality and must comply with the referred terms of reference and conditions. These include: 
• Conducting genome sequencing of pathogenic organisms causing VPD, including rotavirus strains collected as part of the routine VPD surveillance using NGS technology and analysis of the generated datasets using bioinformatics tools.

• Conducting molecular characterisation of specimens collected during outbreaks and public health emergencies as part of the support for monitoring, preparedness and response to VPD disease outbreaks in Africa.

• Provide technical guidance to WHO on strategies to improve laboratory molecular diagnostics, molecular typing and NGS of rotavirus diarrheal strains and other enteropathogens to detect novel and re-emerging strains. 

• Conduct validation of tools and new molecular diagnostics for detection and characterisation of unusual or rare VPD strains to guide studies and development of new vaccines for VPD.

• Organise capacity-building and training workshops on whole genome sequencing of priority VPD pathogenic organisms.

The impact of the WHO CC on the work of the UFS-NGS 

According to Dr Nyaga, the designation brings extra responsibilities to his work and to the activities of the UFS-NGS unit. “Such initiatives are very welcome to enhance the business aspects, research and academic activities of the UFS-NGS unit, as the benefits are quite holistic since the collaboration enhances co-ownership of data and offers opportunities to train postgraduate students and other scientists.

“It also expands the research infrastructure and most importantly contributes to policy for numerous African governments in important decisions such as vaccine implementation activities, from an informed point of view and managing public health needs that require rapid response like outbreaks that may lead to pandemics.” 
• The current WHO CC designations at South African Institutions of higher learning and research can be found at: 

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC
2005-08-03


 

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.
     
Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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