The Fiji National University’s (FNU), College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS), acknowledges and is grateful for the support rendered by the University of Otago’s Global Health Institute (OGHI) and Dunedin’s Mercy Hospital towards the establishment of a Communicable Diseases Research Centre (CDRC) at CMNHS.

This is in line with a Memorandum of Understanding signed between FNU and the University of Otago in 2017. The CDRC will be part of the College’s Fiji Institute of Pacific Health Research (FIPHR), which at this stage is an integrated virtual research institute at CMNHS.

CMNHS Associate Dean Research and FIPHR Director, Dr Donald Wilson, acknowledged the University of Otago for playing a crucial role in the establishment of the Centre.

“This COVID‑19 pandemic has highlighted the critical need to build capacity in infectious/communicable disease research, and for that we are extremely grateful to Otago and Mercy Hospital, for Professor Philip Hill’s time, and the funding commitment towards staffing of the CDRC,” Dr Wilson said.

“For the sake of health research in the Pacific, we at FIPHR can only hope that this working relationship lasts for many, many years to come.”

Dr Wilson said CDRC was also establishing partnerships with researchers and institutions across the globe.

In a statement by the University of Otago, Professor Hill, McAuley Professor of International Health and Co-Director of OGHI, said he was privileged to be appointed as Adjunct Professor with the new Centre.

OGHI Co-Director Associate Professor Patrick Vakaoti commended FNU’s desire to establish a Pacific-led Centre of international standard.

He added that the partnership would hopefully lead to research outcomes that would impact infectious diseases across the Pacific.

Mercy Hospital Mission Coordinator Rev Alofa Lale highlighted that the new Centre would create a platform for proactive engagement that aimed to strengthen collaboration capabilities around the region.

The hospital has also committed NZ$97,500 over three years towards the employment of the Centre Research Fellow.

A fundraising drive to build world-class facilities to support research conducted by the CDRC is expected in the next two years.