ARUA Annual Report 2021
MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY-GENERAL – I am happy to report that despite the pandemic, the number of ARUA activities in 2021 remained high and engaging. This was largely because, like many other organisations around the world, we used the available Information and Communications Technology quite effectively in organising our events and meetings.
The most significant event was the third Biennial Conference under the theme “Global Public Health Challenges: Facing them in Africa”. It turned out to be highly successful and a great experience for us as organisers and, more importantly, totally enjoyable for the hundreds of participants. The main reason for the success was the decision of the Conference Steering Committee to adopt a blended approach to the event, which allowed many more people who were concerned about travel to Pretoria, to participate virtually. Consequently, a good number of world-class researchers readily accepted our invitations and delivered quality papers at the conference. Our keynote speakers and plenary presenters were excellent and provided rich material to reflect on, especially on the way forward in tackling global public health challenges in Africa.
