3rd Emmet A. Dennis National Scientific Conference

The National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), in collaboration with her partners, including AFENET, successfully hosted the 3rd Emmet A. Dennis National Scientific Conference held from August 29 to 31, 2022, at the EJS Ministerial Complex Monrovia. The theme of the conference was “Maintaining Public Health during a Pandemic.” The first and second editions of the conference were held in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The conference is an annual event that provides the scientific community in Liberia the opportunity and platform to share research findings and deliberate on recent developments in public health and other related scientific disciplines. The conference could not hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted travel and in-person meetings. The Director General of NPHIL, Hon. Jane A. MaCauley, in her opening remark, noted that this year’s conference was a deliberate effort to relaunch and reignite Liberia’s scientific zest and passion.
The conference had eight plenary sessions with speakers drawn from global, regional, and national public health experts, policymakers, and stakeholders. There were three concurrent oral breakout sessions, two concurrent poster breakout sessions, and three panel discussions with over 94 scientific abstracts presented. Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Moeti (represented by Dr. Clement, WHO Liberia Country Lead) presented the theme. The various sub-themes speakers were drawn from US CDC, UNICEF, Liberia One Health Platform, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ministry of Justice, etc.
The conference had over 290 attendees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, the United States of America, Uganda, Somalia, Ghana, and the Gambia. The attendees were drawn from academia, research institutions, public health policymakers, international Non-Governmental Organizations, funding agencies, and independent public health experts.