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Read more below to learn about the history of scientific research in Guinea-Bissau and about the creation of the Guinea-Bissau CNEPS in the year of 2009.
The history of scientific research in Guinea-Bissau
Reports consulted in the various publications of the colonial era, especially in the Cultural Bulletin of Portuguese Guinea (BCGP) created in July 1945, supported by Article 31 of the Colonial Act, and by Article 37 of the Organic Charter of Portuguese Colonial Empire. From the outset, the first edition highlights the creation of the Portuguese Guinea Studies Center (CEGP) on December 13, 1946, both feats led by the then Provincial Governor Manuel Sarmento Rodrigues.
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Compiled some portraits from these documents, it appears that the first botanical collections of which there is reference to Guinea-Bissau date from the mid-eighteenth century and were carried out by the French naturalist Michel Adanson. In the 19th century, the study of flora and vegetation by Portuguese researchers began, intensified in the mid-20th century, pointing out that from the beginning of the 1930s onwards, the actions of scientific studies undertaken by Portuguese Botanists were intensified. works in the field of plant taxonomy, forest science, ethnobotany and phytosociology.
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During the colonial period, health research was carried out in the country, however there was no Health Research System (SPS) as such, with its functions and components normally defined. In the post-independence period, Health research in Guinea-Bissau was resumed with the implementation of the Bandim Health Project (PSB) and which has been evolving since 1978, with strong international support, particularly from Denmark, that is, for more than 40 years of its existence, under a protocol agreement between the Governments of Guinea-Bissau and Denmark, having always complied with international research norms and standards.
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Other organizations such as the National Public Health Laboratory (LNSP) with technical and financial support from the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation/Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation (SAREC), the Department of Epidemiology of MINSAP, the Center for Tropical Medicine (CMT) with the technical and financial support of Portuguese Cooperation, and the National Institute of Studies and Research (INEP), created by the government of Guinea -Bissau, through Decree No. 31/84, of November 10, 1984, which specializes in social sciences that have also contributed to studies with a focus on health.
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With the creation of the National Institute of Public Health (INASA), it has carried out different quantitative studies through its Center for Epidemiology and Community Health (CESC) and qualitative studies through the Information and Communication Center for Health (CICS). In 2008, an assessment of the SPS in Guinea-Bissau was carried out with the support of the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), in order to have a comprehensive view of INASA's pre-disposition to implement this agenda.
The creation of the Guinea-Bissau CNEPS
From the implementation of the PSB to the carrying out of the first clinical trials, that is, to carry out any research activity, it is worth mentioning that in this incubation period, the protocols for evaluation were not presented, nor were they approved or followed by any health entity in the country, insofar as there were no institutions installed in the system with the character of evaluating, approving and following the achievements of these acts.
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With the evolution of time, it became necessary to create a specific body to meet these new demands that had been growing in the day-to-day of health activities and, in these terms, a coordinating body for activities was created in 1996. of research in health, called the Health Studies and Research Coordination Nucleus.
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In its first phase, it worked specifically as a Commission for the exclusive evaluation of the proposals for studies that were proposed at the level of the research nucleus created at the PSB to respond to international requirements and with a particular person from the scientific institutions of Denmark.
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However, its functioning was always very deficient, having never been institutionalized in the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). Even so, the investigations, especially the clinical trials that the PSB had been proposing, were taking place normally.
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The creation and institutionalization of INASA were reinforced with the training of national researchers. This led to a change of paradigm in terms of conceptual approaches, which is why there is also an urgent need to modify the format of the Research Protocols Evaluation Committee, in order to respond to the proposed challenges.
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Thus, the institutionalization of the Health Research Ethics Committee (CNEPS) emerged as a condition to respond to the demands that are conditioned to the performance of Clinical Trials and other studies that the PSB had been proposing to carry out at the country level, responding to the objectives because this was created. institution and not only, as new purposes and needs for knowledge of more questions about changes in the epidemiology of diseases that came and are emerging and affecting the territory and its population arise.
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To learn more about the history of the CNEPS, check out this article.