Fiocruz signs partnership with Angolan university

The Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) and the Agostinho Neto University (UAN), in Luanda (Angola), signed a memorandum of understanding for future partnerships in teaching and research between the institutions. Representing another step in the search for closer ties with African institutions, the partnership aims at mutual collaboration in the following areas: neglected tropical diseases, with emphasis on malaria and tuberculosis; communicable diseases; arboviruses; antimicrobial resistance (AMR); HIV; climate and health; maternal, child and reproductive health; among others. The memorandum of understanding signed between the institutions is valid for five years.

Anna Cristina Calçada Carvalho (left) during the signing of the memorandum at Agostinho Neto University (photo: Personal collection)

The signing, by virtual means last Thursday (6/22), was attended by the director of IOC/Fiocruz, Tania Araujo-Jorge, and the deputy directors Luciana Garzoni (Research, Technological Development and Innovation) and Ademir Martins (Teaching, Information and Communication). The Institute's Institutional Cooperation coordinator, Anna Cristina Calçada Carvalho, was present at the dean's office of the Agostinho Neto University during the ceremony.

On the Angolan side, it was attended by the dean of UAN, Pedro Magalhães; the professors of the School of Medicine of the University, Maria Fernanda Dias Afonso Monteiro and Joaquim Vandunem, and the General Consul of Angola in Rio de Janeiro, Mateus de Sá Miranda.

“It is part of the institutional cooperation policy to strengthen technical-scientific partnerships with countries in the southern hemisphere, especially Portuguese-speaking countries. The IOC's focus is on contributing to the training of human resources in these places. We can help them face public health problems linked, especially, to transmissible diseases”, commented Anna Cristina.

The coordinator also pointed out that all the Institute's Stricto sensu Graduate Programs are involved in the partnership. “Fiocruz and the IOC have a long history of collaboration with Angola and Mozambique. In previous agreements signed for the training of human resources, more than fifty people were awarded master's or doctoral degrees”, she pointed out, adding that the next step consists in preparing, with the UAN, a work plan to continue the partnership. “We have a meeting scheduled for August with representatives of the Angolan university to address the matter”, she added.