KNUST secures $5.1 million Takeda grant for pharmacist training on climate health risks

Pinned summary · as of 04:55

Kumasi's KNUST has won a $5.1 million grant from the Japanese drug company Takeda to prepare pharmacists for the health effects of climate change. Separately, a delegation from the university has begun talks with the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF) about trying out artificial intelligence in healthcare settings.

What we know

• Takeda Pharmaceutical Company awarded KNUST $5.1 million under its 2026 Global Corporate Social Responsibility programme to fund PharmAdapt, an initiative that trains pharmacists to deal with health risks linked to climate change.
• The PharmAdapt project is based in the pharmacy faculty at KNUST. Professor Priscilla Kolibea Mante, a pharmacology academic, leads it, and Professors Edmund Ekuadzi and Samuel Asare-Nkansah serve as technical portfolio leads.
• The project covers emergency preparedness, pharmaceutical care that responds to climate conditions and environmentally sustainable pharmacy practice. It also aims to produce standards and tools that can be adopted in pharmacy practice, first in Ghana and later elsewhere.
• Professor Mante said pharmacists have been underused in responding to climate-driven health problems. Professor Christian Agyare, KNUST's Vice-Chancellor, called the partnership an opportunity and said it would leave behind standards that outlast the project.
• Takeda put a combined $22.2 million into four initiatives under the same 2026 programme, of which the KNUST project is one.
• A KNUST delegation headed by Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor David Asamoah, acting for the Vice-Chancellor, visited the Ghana Medical Trust Fund to discuss using artificial intelligence and scientific innovation to improve healthcare in Ghana.
• KNUST wants the Trust Fund to make some health facilities available for a pilot of AI tools. The two sides also considered using AI to support the Fund's own data management, monitoring and coordination work. Professor Asamoah said the university wants research to move out of the laboratory and into practical health use.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

• ?
  Reports differ on the other Takeda projects. YEN.com.gh named Nepal, Honduras, Peru, Egypt and Lebanon as the other locations, while Kumasi Mail listed Ghana alongside those five places. Both describe four initiatives, so the list of countries does not match the count.
• ?
  YEN.com.gh reported that the university made the grant public via social media on Monday, 28 September, and Kumasi Mail added that Takeda's programme backs long-term partnerships, with projects chosen with input from company employees worldwide. Neither point appears in other reports.
• ?
  Opemsuo 104.7 reported that KNUST opened a photonics and optics laboratory, known as GPOL, to build national capacity in photonics research and measurement. Its two principal investigators, Dr Britwum and Dr Donkor, described a teaching, training and research mission, and Dr Donkor asked partners to invest in the lab. No second source has confirmed the launch.
• ?
  At the photonics launch, Professor Asamoah was reported to say the laboratory would let Ghana take key measurements at home in health, environmental safety, agriculture and trade. Professor Philip Antwi-Agyei of the College of Science said its outreach had reached more than 6,000 people since 2024. The launch was said to be part of a school attended by 38 students from six African countries. These accounts come from Opemsuo 104.7 only.
• ?
  Opemsuo 104.7 reported that KNUST researchers built SignTalk-Gh, an AI system meant to help Deaf and hard-of-hearing patients communicate with health workers who do not sign. Lead researcher Dr Emmanuel Ahene said it was trained on Ghanaian Sign Language data and converts signing from a camera or video into text and audio, and works in reverse. No other report carries this.
• ?
  Opemsuo 104.7 said SignTalk-Gh was funded through the Responsible AI Lab under the AI4SD project, supported by the French embassy in Accra and the AFD development agency, with help from FCDO, IDRC and AI4D. This has not been independently confirmed.
• ?
  MyJoyOnline reported that KNUST's Career Services Centre held an AI and robotics practitioners' forum, themed 'Tech Without Borders', with the Department of Computer Science and the US-based non-profit Thinquebytes; the report dates it to 28 April. Mrs Selina Angmor, Prof. Marian Asantewah Nkansah and Prof. Michael Asante spoke, and Thinquebytes founder Nia Jetter and colleagues described careers that included work with NASA, Amazon, Boeing, General Motors and Tesla. One publication reported this.
• ?
  Opemsuo 104.7 reported that KNUST invited shortlisted nursing and midwifery applicants at the Obuasi Campus to interviews on Thursday, 24 September at the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Kumasi, citing the Deputy Registrar for Academic Affairs. No other report mentions this.

Why it matters for Ghana

Pharmacists are often the first health workers people meet in Ghanaian towns and cities, so training them for climate-related health risks could shape how communities cope with such events. If the pilot with the Ghana Medical Trust Fund goes ahead, patients and health workers could see AI tested in real facilities, and Deaf patients in particular could benefit from tools that ease consultations. Students in Kumasi and beyond also gain links to industry and to research networks.