COORDINATING GROUP DECISIONS (2005)

The latest AFASSA Coordinating Group meeting was held at the International Center For Chemical Sciences, H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, University of  Karachi, Pakistan on July 27, 2005. The following were the main decisions reached at the meeting.

·        AFASSA collaborating centers are urged to host as many exchange fellows as possible. Visits of senior scientists, who could give seminars and lead mini symposia, will also be encouraged as such activities will lead to greater interactions between scientist and institutions.

·        The proposal for the establishment of thematic networks on malaria and AIDS was extensively discussed. It was felt that at this stage establishment of new network may not be very productive. However activities focusing on these important problems shall be initiated by FASSA. Thus it was agreed that AFASSA will seek ways and means to organize two workshops on Anti-malarial and Infectious diseases including HIV. It was agreed that Professor Jacob Midiwo will explore the possibility of organizing the first of these workshops on malaria in Africa in partnership with NAPRECA and MIM (Multilateral Initiative on Malaria).

·        It was decided that the 4^th AFASSA meeting will be held on 26 - 29 March 2006 in Montevideo, Uruguay and the 5^th will held in 2007 in Zimbabwe.

·        A proposal to establish CENPROD-International, primarily targeted to evaluate the safety, efficacy and standardization of herbal medicine, was presented by Prof. M. Iqbal Choudhary and Prof. Mohammed Mosihuzzaman. The member a appreciated the move and endorsed it.

·        A proposal to initiate an information hub on plant extracts and bioassay facilities in different member countries was discussed. It was agreed that the centers will be identified in Asia, South America and Africa and they will be requested to provide information about the extracts they possess along with the bioassay facilities they can share with other scientists in the AFASSA region.

The AFASSA Coordinating Group comprises the following representatives of member networks and ex-officio members:

Berhanu Abegaz (Prof.)
NABSA, Department of Chemistry, University of Botswana
Private Bag 0022, Gaborone, BOTSWANA
Phone: +267 35 52497, Fax: +267 3552836
Email: abegazb@mopipi.ub.bw

Ermias Dagne (Prof.)
ALNAP, Department of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University
P.O. Box 30270, Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Phone: +2511 911 645303 Fax: +2511 1 11239473
E-mail: erda@chem.aau.edu.et  / edagne@yahoo.com

Federico Dajas (Prof.)
LANBIO, IBCE, Neurochemistry Division
Av. Italia 3318, 11600 Montevideo, URUGUAY
Phone : +598 2 4871 6161 616, Fax : +598 2 4872603
Email: fdajas@iibce.edu.uy

Jacob O. Midiwo (Prof)

NAPRECA, Department of Chemistry

University of Nairobi

PO Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya

Fax: 254 020 446138

E-mail: jmidiwo@uonbi.ac.ke
 

Mohammed Mosihuzzaman (Prof.)
ANRAP, Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka
Dhaka- 1000. BANGLADESH
Phone : +880 2  9670810, Fax : +880 2 8615583
Email: zamanmm@bangla.net  / mmosihuzzaman@yahoo.com

Vijaya Kumar  (Prof.)
Department of Chemistry, University of Peradeniya
Peradeniya, SRILANKA
Fax : 94-8-389129, +94-389939
Email : vkumar@pdn.ac.lk / vkumar@mail.ac.lk

Ex-officio Members

Malin Akerblom (Dr)
Director of IPICS, Uppsala University
Dag Hammarskjölds väg 31
S-752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
Phone : +46 18 471 3574, Fax : +46 18 471 3495
Email: Malin.Akerblom@isp.uu.se

Rune Liminga (Prof.)
Eriksberg, SE-741 91 Knivsta, Sweden
Phone: 46-(0)18-381319
Email: rune.liminga@telia.com

Professor Julia Hasler (Prof.)
Programme Specialist
Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences
Natural Sciences Sector, UNESCO
1 rue Miollis     75015 Paris, France
Tel: (33 1) 45 68 38 97, Fax: (33 1) 45 68 58 16
E-mail: J.Hasler@unesco.org

Ulrika Huss (Dr)
Scientific Programme Coordinator  Natural Products
International Foundation for Science
Karlavägen 108, 5th floor
SE-115 26 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel. +46 8 545 818 13
E-mail: Ulrika.Huss@ifs.se
 

Updated November 6, 2005