LA LAGUNA (TENERIFE), June 28. (EUROPA PRESS) –
‘CampusAfrica22’, which will take place between July 9 and 29 with more than forty speakers, resumes its journey under the slogan ‘Climate Change, global health and sustainable development: the Atlantic perspective’.
Thus, this edition, presented this Tuesday at the City Council of La Laguna, offers a program dedicated to climate change, ecological transition and sustainable development in the Middle Atlantic and West Africa; the society and culture of the insular territories of the African Atlantic; pandemic challenges and global health; and molecular biology as a tool for the diagnosis of infectious diseases.
In addition, it will have the participation of 57 fellows from countries such as Gabon, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Tunisia.
The program has been presented by Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, Mayor of the City Council of La Laguna; Rosa María Aguilar, rector of the University of La Laguna; José Antonio Valbuena, Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands; Liskel Álvarez, CEO of Accion Exterior Cabildo de Tenerife, as well as its co-directors José Gómez Soliño and Basilio Valladares.
Gutiérrez emphasized the role of the ‘City of the Adelantados’ as the backbone for scientific knowledge.
“We want to continue to be a meeting point for reflection and analysis of the great problems of our world, through programs of international prestige such as this CampusAfrica”, he pointed out.
To this was added the municipal commitment to the implementation of initiatives aimed at promoting climate change, ecological transition and sustainable development.
For her part, the head of the ULL highlighted the role of the university institution in bringing together the best thinkers and scientists of recognized prestige around high-impact academic programs.
“We do science for the world, and we cooperate with the world, we have open lines of work with Cape Verde, with whom we have an already solid relationship, but also with Mauritania, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia and more recently with Guinea Conakry. But we are also present in other territories such as Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea or Ethiopia,” he added.
The Department of Education of the City Council of La Laguna allocates 100,000 euros of its budget to the Canarian Foundation for Tropical Diseases (FUNCET) for the development of ‘CampusAfrica’.
Its councilor, also responsible for Local Development and Youth, José Juan Gavilán, explained that this support is included in a municipal program to support initiatives that promote research, dissemination and the promotion of science among the local population, especially among the young people.
José Antonio Valbuena, Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, pointed out that initiatives such as ‘CampusAfrica’ are essential to promote knowledge about the risks and vulnerabilities that climate change entails for the island territories or the challenges that the Canary Islands have to achieve a true ecological transition.
“Since the beginning of the legislature we have been clear that our work has to be based on scientific knowledge and the research work carried out by Canarian universities on these issues, so ‘CampusAfrica’ will always have an ally in this Ministry” , he added.
The CEO of the Foreign Action area of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Liskel Álvarez, highlighted the line of collaboration that the Cabildo maintains with the Foundation for the Control of Tropical Diseases for the promotion of research, improvements in health, and specific action programs for development”.
This edition of ‘CampusAfrica’ highlighted that it will serve to exchange knowledge and training for scientific and health personnel. “From the Cabildo we will continue promoting research through the internationalization of knowledge,” he said.
The co-directors agreed to thank the institutions for their involvement and highlighted the content of this edition, which aims to “give a rigorous response” to issues related to sustainable development and global health.
PROMOTION OF SCIENTIFIC VOCATIONS
They also highlighted the boost to African scientific vocations that ‘CampusAfrica’ provides as evidenced by the growing number of enrollments in postgraduate and doctoral studies by students from the African continent and its islands at the University of La Laguna.
The biosanitary block will devote special attention to the evolution of SARS-COV2 with two specific sessions in which it will explain everything from its biology and structure, a conference that will be given by Dr. Ángel Gutiérrez Navarro (July 12), to the current state of vaccines prepared by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) by Vicente Larraga (July 13).
In addition, taking into account the social and media concern caused by monkeypox, with 16 cases located in the Canary Islands, Dr. Aileen Marty (Miami International Federation of Tropical Medicine) will be in charge of explaining the transmission process of this disease on July 19.
The topics dedicated to the biosanitary block will be developed in the Faculty of Pharmacy of the ULL in the afternoon starting at 4:00 p.m. (except those that are specified as special presentations), and the same happens with those corresponding to the climatic block, this time at the headquarters of the Royal Economic Society of the Country of Tenerife.
All conferences in the afternoon will be open and free for university students and the general public until full capacity is reached.
For its part, the mornings will be dedicated to the development of projects in the IUETSPC laboratories, and to guided visits to museums and centers of scientific and environmental interest.
The weekends will be dedicated to excursions that facilitate knowledge of the exceptional landscape, architectural and environmental values of the island of Tenerife.
SPECIAL PROGRAMMING
The opening ceremony is scheduled for July 11 in the Auditorium of the University of La Laguna from 10:30 a.m. with the presentation ‘Vaccines and neglected diseases: a scientific and ethical challenge’ by Professor Antonio Muro Álvarez, from the University of Salamanca.
In addition, as key appointments of the established programming, it is worth mentioning the institutional act of ‘Mandela Day’, on July 18 at 5:00 p.m. at the Leal Theater.
For its part, the ‘International Day of Cooperation’ is scheduled for Monday, July 25 at 5:00 p.m. at the Island Council of Tenerife, and African academic and ministerial personalities will participate in it, interested in strengthening cooperation ties between the University of La Laguna and its African counterparts.
The closing day will be on July 28 at 6:00 p.m. and will feature a presentation by the Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, on ‘Climate emergency, time to act’ .
