Page 26 - UNAM Annual Report 2017

practice in medicine that suits the needs of the community engagement, that investigated
Namibian public.
The School of Pharmacy
The pharmacy profession is the third-largest
health profession globally, although Africa
is the continent with the lowest number of
pharmacists and pharmacy schools. The
School of Pharmacy was established one year
after the first intake of medical students, and
one of its added benefits is that the student
groups could be taught inter-professionally,
in line with international trends in health
education. The first graduating class of home-
grown pharmacists coincided with the first
intake of a new Diploma in Pharmacy that
seeks to train pharmaceutical technicians.
In 2015, a new Master of Pharmacy (Clinical
Pharmacy) was approved by the University.
These measures provide a systematic
pathway to strengthening the pharmacy
workforce in Namibia, ultimately improving
patient care and reducing harm by medicines,
and stimulating growth in the health and
pharmaceutical industries.
During the period under review, the School
provided a quality learning environment that
is conducive to the pursuit of professional
competence, while providing services to
the community and undertaking relevant
translational research to enhance health.
d) Hifikepunye Pohamba Campus
Student enrolment at the Campus continues to
grow every year, and the number of students
graduating each year has always been the
highest at this Campus, relative to other northern
UNAM campuses. For the year under review, the
campus offered the English Access Programme
to about 90 students, who improved their
English in order to meet the requirements of the
University. It is the Campus’s wish to offer higher
education and training to meet the needs and
aspirations of the Namibian people.
The Hifikepunye Pohamba Campus participated
in a number of notable research activities. Key
among them was a research project, in the form
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factors that contribute to poor performance
at specific schools in the Ohangwena Region.
In addition, a research study that investigated
factors that influence students’ performance
in first-year physics modules at the University of
Namibia was conducted.
The campus conducted a needs assessment
survey for NCRST, thereby contributing to the
development of the Management Plan for the
smooth running of the Mathematics and Science
Computer-Based Learning Centres.
e) Katima Mulilo Campus
The acute shortage of professionally qualified
teachers at schools led Katima Mulilo Campus
to introduce diploma and degree courses in
education targeted at enhancing the quality of
education delivery in the Zambezi Region. The
regular outbreaks of animal diseases (anthrax,
foot and mouth) in the region have detrimental
effects on communal farmers who rely on crop
and livestock farming. As a direct response to
this challenge, the Campus now hosts an Animal
Health Department, that collaborates with the
local State Veterinary Department to contain
animal disease outbreaks. Furthermore, the
steady increase of wildlife and human populations
in the newly established conservancies has led
to a sharp increase of wildlife-human conflicts
in the Zambezi Region. Hence, the Campus
introduced a BSc degree programme in wildlife
and ecotourism management, with the aim to
produce skilled personnel who can contribute to
the management of wildlife and conservation,
as well as design environmental programmes
that mitigate wildlife-human conflicts.
As part of the effort to enhance its global image
and recognition, the Campus has continued to
enter into strategic MoUs in the areas of research
and training with internationally renowned
universities. During the year under review, the
Campus, through the Department of Wildlife
Management and Ecotourism, initiated an MoU
with Porto University (Portugal) and Cologne
University (Germany) for long-term collaborative
research that will contribute substantially to