CSIR Wins Presidential Honours Award for Role in Combat against COVID-19

The National Honours and Awards 2023 have recognized and honoured individuals, institutions, and partners who played pivotal roles and made significant contributions to the fight against COVID-19 during the pandemic. Prof. Mike Yaw Osei-Atweneboana, Director of the CSIR Water Research Institute, accepted the award on Tuesday at the Accra International Conference Centre on behalf of the Council.

His Excellency, the President Nana Akufo-Addo extending handshake to Prof. Mike Osei-Atweneboana

CSIR was recognized for the interventions it rolled out in response to the novel virus including:

1. The establishment of a Covid-19 PCR testing laboratory at the Biomedical and Public Health Research unit under the CSIR Water Research Institute in response to His Excellency the President’s call to increase Covid-19 PCR Testing Centres.
2. Building and training of a responsive CSIR testing team on safety precautions and excellent work output which led to the active involvement of CSIR scientists in the testing of 218, 425 Covid -19 samples between March and May 2020.
3. Contact tracing of samples received from the District Health Services for diagnosis to determine Covid-19 status.
4. Entering all Covid-19 test results into the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) of the Ghana health Service for use to update the government and the public on the Covid-19 situation in Ghana.

      Prof. Mike Osei- Atweneboana poses with the citation and plaque

In addition, the CSIR Water Research Institute also assisted with testing water quality to augment the free use of water enjoyed by Ghanaians during the pandemic. In all, some 19, 557 frontline health workers received certificates and plaques for their dedicated services in the line of duty.

About the CSIR COVID-19 Testing Centre

The CSIR COVID -19 Testing Centre was established in response to His Excellency the President’s call to increase Covid-19 PCR Testing Centres to help manage the novel virus. The Centre falls under the Biomedical and Public Health division at the CSIR Water Research Institute whose mandate is to research infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and other health related problems using molecular genomics applications to significantly increase knowledge and generate evidence-based findings leading to the development of technologies and treatment strategies to enhance, control, management and eliminate diseases of public health importance.

The CSIR Covid-19 Testing Centre

About the National Honours Awards:

The national honours awards was instituted by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana. The maiden ceremony was held in 1960 and later popularised by former president John Agyekum Kuffour in 2006.  The awards are presented to persons who have made immense and recognized contributions in sectors such as the civil service, military, prisons service, education and public health, agriculture, commerce and industry, the judiciary, scientific and other research, sports, culture and the arts, and the financial sector.

Source: Corporate Affairs Division, CSIR Head Office