Prof Binka wins award

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 25)

By Rebecca Kwei
The Dean of the School of Public Health of the University of Ghana, Professor Fred Newton Binka, has been awarded the Ronald Ross Medal for his contribution to research on a wide range of diseases in the tropics.
This is the first time someone from a developing country has received the award. Prof Binka was awarded the medal together with Prof Geoffrey Targett.
The Ronald Ross Medal was instituted in 1997 by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The medal was set up to commemorate the centenary of Ross’ discovery of the transmission of malaria by the mosquito.
On August 20, 1897, Sir Ronald Ross made the momentous discovery of the malaria parasite in the female anopheline mosquito thus demonstrating that the mosquito was the carrier of malaria. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1902.
“I feel honoured and excited by this award, especially because it is Ronald Ross and my work over the years has been in malaria epidemiology” Prof Binka said at a lunch organised by INDEPTH Network in his honour.
The citation accompanying the award said at a relatively young age, Prof Binka established himself as one of the leading health research scientists in Africa and he has an extraordinary distinguished record of research and service to public health.
According to the citation Prof Binka gained international prominence when he was recruited to be the Epidemiologist and head of field work fo a major trial in northern Ghana to assess the impact that regular supplementation with vitamin A would have on child mortality.
“The results of the trial were striking and of global significance, showing vitamin A supplementation produced a 20 per cent reduction in the all-cause child death rate,” the citation said.
It continued “the results of the trial were highly influential in determining recommendations on vitamin A supplementation globally. Secondly, the excellence of the conduct of this large and complicated trial in a relatively remote location in Ghana, established Fred’s reputation as a field trial investigator.
Thirdly it led to the study site, situated around a small town in northern Ghana, Navrongo, becoming a centre of excellence for demographic surveillance and Fred became the first director of the newly established centre in 1992.
Fourthly, the experience of demographic surveillance in Navrongo was highly influential in the setting up of the INDEPTH Network — a network of around 30 demographic surveillance sites in developing countries of which Fred was the founding Executive Director — a position he occupied for the first decade of its existence.”
According to the citation, Prof Binka’s first activity upon assuming the leadership of the Navrongo Health Research Centre was to conduct one of the key trials showing that insecticide-impregnated bednets reduced all-cause mortality by 20 per cent.
This together with a small number of similar trials conducted elsewhere, has been key to the incorporation of bednet distribution as a major malaria control strategy in Accra.
Prof Binka was a founding member of Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA Network) and also played a key role in discussions and negotiations that led to the setting up of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).
Both of these ventures (MARA and EDCTP) have been important initiatives in addressing major health problems in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof Binka spent 1998 to 2000 working in Geneva with the then newly created Roll Back Malaria Programme and was a member of the core team that developed the vision for the programme.
Despite requests to stay on with the Programme in Geneva, he saw his major contribution as a scientist based in Africa and returned to Ghana in 2000.
Recognising the lack of clinical trial capacity in Africa, Prof Binka was the main force behind the setting up of the Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance (MCTA) of which he is currently the Executive Director.
The MCTA is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and it is strengthening the capacity of centres in Africa to conduct trials of malaria treatment and vaccines.
More recently, Prof Binka has championed the setting up of the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies (INESS) to assess the effectiveness and safety of new anti-malarials as they are introduced into African countries.
Prof Binka also received the British Medical Journal Research Paper of the Year Award for 2010.
Various speakers at the reception including the Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, the Programme Manager of National Malaria Control Programme, Dr Constance Bart-Plange described Prof Binka as an inspirational leader, goal getter, kind and one who is able to groom and nurture people to take up responsible positions.
The Executive Director of INDEPTH Network, Dr Osman Sankoh in congratuting Prof Binka said his achievement has again put the INDEPTH Network on the map.