Published: 29-01-2021 16:12 | Updated: 29-02-2024 16:56

KI and Makerere University establish centre for sustainable health

KI and Makerere University have signed an agreement to establish the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH), a centre to promote partnerships and develop capacity, resources and tools for researchers and policy makers globally. The agreement is the next step in the deepening of the collaboration between the institutions.

KI’s President Ole Petter Ottersen and Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor at Makerere University sign agreement on 29 January 2021.
KI’s President, Ole Petter Ottersen, and Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor at Makerere University, signed an agreement to establish the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health on 29 January 2021. Photo: Ulf Sirbom, Bildmakarna

Inspired by the ambitions in the Sustainable Development Goals, sustainable health is a multisectoral area for study, research, education, and practice towards improving health and wellbeing for all, while staying within planetary boundaries that sustain life-supporting ecosystems. By engaging global networks and communities in reciprocal innovation and learning, this field strives to implement knowledge through resilient systems to achieve health equity for all people worldwide.

Stefan Swartling Peterson, professor in Global Transformation of Health at the Department of Global Public Health at KI. Photo: N/A.

“We need to learn together and from each other to overcome the pandemic and challenges to the health of both people and planet,” says Stefan Swartling Peterson, member of the CESH steering committee and recently appointed professor in Global Transformation for Health at the Department of Global Public Health at KI.

The establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health is a central component in operationalising KI’s Strategy 2030.

“Fuelled by our experiences in COVID-19, we see an urgent need to build universal preparedness for health and I am convinced that the new centre will contribute significantly to this. My vision is that the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health will help transform how research and policies are formulated and conducted in the area of sustainable health”, explains KI’s President Ole Petter Ottersen.

Advancing implementation of the Agenda 2030

The Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health capitalizes on the existing partnership between Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University.

“This is an important next step in the long-standing collaboration between Makerere University and Karolinska Institutet. Deepening our partnership will be a significant contribution to increase action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda”, says Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor of Makerere University.

Capacity building, promoting networks and development of research projects

The main activities will include capacity building and continuous professional development of professionals in sustainable health as well as the advancement of tools, resources and research projects to address urgent global health issues.

Professor Rhoda Wanyenze, Makerere University. Photo: N/A.

“The centre can facilitate the development of a worldwide community for sustainable health issues. We want to drive an agenda for sustainable health by providing resources and tools for action for researchers, students, professionals and policy makers globally”, says project leader at Makerere University, Professor Rhoda Wanyenze.

The Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health is a virtual centre and its activities will be based on an online platform which includes a web portal and an e-learning platform.