The President of Mozambique Visits CISM

Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, the president of Mozambique, visited the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) on Wednesday, 25 November to learn how the Centre's activities are helping to improve public health in Mozambique. The President was accompanied by Álvaro Alabart, the Spanish ambassador to Mozambique; Cristina Gutiérrez, a representative of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in Mozambique; and Antoni Plasència, director of ISGlobal. After the visit, President Nyusi thanked AECID for its ongoing support for Mozambique generally and for CISM in particular. CISM, one of AECID's flagship projects, recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary and is considered one of Africa's most important biomedical research centres.

President Nyusi's visit came during a week of meetings of CISM's governing bodies. The Centre's Board of Directors, chaired by Mohsin Sidat, dean of the faculty of Public Health at Eduardo Mondlane University, met on 23 November. ISGlobal participated in this meeting, having replaced the Clínic Foundation for Biomedical Research on the Board of Trustees of the Manhiça Foundation in November 2014. The External Scientific Committee, chaired by Orlando Quilambo, rector of Eduardo Mondlane University, met the following day. ISGlobal, participating as an international strategic technical partner, was represented by Director Antoni Plasència and Training and Education Director Núria Casamitjana, and by several researchers, including Clara Menéndez, Quique Bassat and Carlota Dobaño. ISGlobal's representatives reported on the Institute's collaboration with CISM.

CISM is recognised internationally as one of Africa's leading health research centres. ISGlobal's long-term strategic alliance with CISM guarantees the Mozambican centre's knowledge transfer and capacity building and supports a research portfolio focused on reproductive health and some of the main threats to health in Mozambique, including malaria, HIV infection, tuberculosis and several neglected diseases.