Microsoft Word 02Preface doc

3
 
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research: NMIMR 
In 1968, the Overseas Technical Cooperation Agency (OTCA), the predecessor of JICA, 
started to dispatch experts to the Korle Bu Hospital (Ghana College of Health Services) 
for the purpose of promoting research on virology.  After the completion of the 
facilities of the NMIMR, technical cooperation provided at the Korle Bu Hospital was 
transferred to the institute.  Since then, JICA has continuously cooperated with the 
NMIMR to improving its research capacity over a period of 28 years.    Meanwhile, the 
Japanese government supported the development of the facilities and equipment of the 
NMIMR through the execution of grant aid projects, namely, the Noguchi Memorial 
Institute Rehabilitation and Extension Project in 1997 and so on. 
The objectives of the series of JICA cooperation activities can be roughly divided into 
two stages. During the initial stage from 1968 to 1991, JICA focused on strengthening 
the capabilities of the university-affiliated institutions. Although the first project type 
technical cooperation, the Noguchi Memorial Institute Project, which started in 1986, 
included some activities related to infectious diseases control, such as quality control of 
vaccines, its focus was to transfer technical skills to the NMIMR. The second stage 
started in 1991 after Noguchi Memorial Institute Project Phase II.  It aimed to 
strengthen the research capabilities of the NMIMR and to enhance the capacity of its 
health/medical personnel through technical training. This stage was intended to enhance 
and strengthen infectious diseases control in Ghana through capacity building of the 
health/medical personnel based on the NMIMR, which had acquired the appropriate 
research capacity during the period of the first stage of JICA technical cooperation.    A 
series of JICA technical cooperation activities targeted Vaccine Preventable Diseases 
(VPD), HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), Diarrhoeal Diseases, TB, 
and Schistosomiasis. 
JICA has supported research activities on various infectious diseases since the 

---

 
xiv
establishment of the NMIMR.  As mentioned above, the NMIMR has extensively 
contributed to infectious diseases control in Ghana and the Africa region as a research 
institute and reference laboratory. For example, the NMIMR has been designated as the 
national reference laboratory for HIV and has established a position as a core referral 
laboratory, which deals with polio, yellow fever, tuberculosis, and so on. Moreover, as a 
core research institute for infectious diseases, the NMIMR contributes to infectious 
diseases control in the West African region as well as in the country by functioning as a 
WHO reference laboratory for Polio and conducting third country training for the 
surrounding countries.    
In general, the role of the research institute is to develop techniques for infectious 
diseases control.    A series of JICA cooperation activities involved carrying out research 
to improve health services, such as the distribution system of vaccines and improving 
the accuracy of diagnoses.  These activities are therefore evaluated as having 
contributed to improving the health of the population indirectly through the 
improvement of health services.     
However, a dichotomy between the needs of NMIMR and JICA assistance through 
technical cooperation aimed at technology transfer has accompanied the enhancement of 
the independence of the NMIMR through the strengthening of collaborative research 
with foreign institutes, although JICA’s technical cooperation met the needs of the 
NMIMR in the initial stages of cooperation.  It is concluded that a new cooperation 
scheme that treats the NMIMR as an equal partner is required to improve future 
cooperation.   
Through a series of analyses based on the positioning, functions, and effects of JICA 
cooperation with the NMIMR, the expected future roles of the NMIMR can be 
summarized as follows in terms three functions.    (1) To maintain the strengthen of its 
research on infectious diseases that should be eradicated in West Africa and throughout 
Africa by promoting joint research with foreign universities and research institutes, as 
well as conducting leading research on infectious diseases control in Ghana as a 
research institute equipped with advanced diagnostic techniques that are indispensable 
for infectious diseases control through molecular level analysis and genetic analysis, (2) 
To serve as a center for human resources development as an executing agency for the 
in-service training of medical personnel in Ghana and third country training for the 
surrounding countries, and to establish a position as a research base for infectious 
diseases control in West Africa under the framework of the West African Centre for 
International Parasite Control Project, (3) To expand health services that lead to 

---

 
xv
enhanced public health, including the quality control of vaccines, research on drug 
resistance in malaria, and information transmission as a reference laboratory through 
coordination with the Ministry of Health