TWAS Advisory Committee on COVID-19

UNESCO-TWAS established the TWAS Advisory Committee on COVID-19 (TACC) on 25 June 2021 to strengthen the Academy’s global influence and actions related to COVID-19.

The Committee has multiple goals, which include providing the perspective of the developing world on the pandemic’s effect, with special attention to equity in health, vaccinations and education. The Committee also provides recommendations so that the Academy can take a leading role and make substantial contributions to counter the pandemic. It also provides post-COVID-19 advice and recommendations to narrow the health gap between North and South, which the pandemic has widened.

TACC is also collating data to offer advice and formulate guidelines on how to limit and control gender inequalities expanded by the pandemic in many developing countries. It’s additionally assigned to provide a plan to enhance South-South and North-South cooperation to mitigate the lasting effects of the pandemic and prevent and manage future outbreaks. TACC also publishes a daily Newsletter with updates on the status of COVID-19 worldwide. 

The Committee currently has a chair and 12 members, including seven TWAS Fellows, five TWAS Young Affiliates (including four alumni), and a TWAS awardee. All members of TACC live and conduct scientific work in the global South:

Chair:

  • Huanming Yang, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), China [2008 TWAS Fellow]

Members:

  • María G. Guzmán, Center for Research, Diagnostic and Reference Activities, CIDR at IPK, Cuba [2002 TWAS Fellow]
  • Vincent P.K. Titanji, Cameroon Christian University, Cameroon [2004 TWAS Fellow]
  • Muntaser E. Ibrahim, University of Khartoum [2007 TWAS Fellow]
  • Partha Pratim Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, India [2011 TWAS Fellow]
  • Firdausi Qadri, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh [2011 TWAS Fellow]
  • George F. Gao, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, China [2014 TWAS Fellow]
  • Samir Abbès, University of Jendouba, Tunisia [2011 Young Affiliate, Alumnus]
  • Ramy Aziz, Children’s Cancer Hospital, Egypt [2011 Young Affiliate, Alumnus]
  • Bolanle Ojokoh, Federal University of Technology, Nigeria [2013 Young Affiliate, Alumna]
  • Cláudia Pinto Figueiredo, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil [2017 Young Affiliate, Alumna]
  • Eugenie Kayitesi, University of Pretoria, South Africa [2018 Young Affiliate]
  • Basant Giri, Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences, Nepal [2020 winner of TWAS-Atta-ur-Rahman Award in Chemistry.]

Related News

A key TWAS Committee advocates for better regional genomic surveillance networks in the global South, in the section "Correspondence" of the scientific journal Nature