SATREPS SYMPOSIUM
on iDEWS
For establishment of an early warning system for infectious diseases in southern Africa
incorporating climate prediction
10 years of successful corporation in science and technology
between the Republic of South Africa and Japan

Organized by

Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University
Supported by

Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Embassy of the Republic of South Africa
Nagasaki, Japan, January 27, 2015

iDEWS(infectious Disease Early Warning System)
Infectious diseases including malaria, pneumonia and diarrheal diseases are major contributors to mortality andmorbidity in southern Africa, exacerbated by a high prevalence of HIV in the population. Although malaria
incidence in South Africa has declined markedly since the last major malaria epidemic in 1999/2000, the diseaseremains a major health burden, particularly in the north-eastern malaria endemic regions of South Africa. During
the 2010/2011 malaria season over the 8600 cases and 119 malaria-associated deaths were reported in South
Africa. In the same regions where the highest incidence of malaria occurs (in the Lowveld areas of Limpopo,
Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal), the mortality rates from diarrheal disease especially in children are highest inSouth Africa. In addition, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases are also disproportionately high inimpoverished areas such as these. They all have a significant weather and climate link. There is a need for a finer
understanding of the nature of these relationships, to improve prevention and management, especially in the lightof climate change.
The collaboration among South African and Japanese scientists, “the Project for Prediction of Climate Variations
and its Application in the Southern African Region” (from April 2010 to March 2013), has resulted in the capacity
to deliver climate predictions at very fine temporal and spatial scales suitable for application in the health sector.
While climate variability is a key driver of infectious disease, absence of utilization of long-term climate prediction
information has rendered infectious disease management sub-optimal. Current management is reactive and not
proactive in the sense that many responses to outbreaks are mobilized during or after the event. With an effective
climate-based infectious disease early-warning system, an improved precision of climate prediction, coupled withlocal disease transmission models, will allow for more proactive management of these diseases. The climate-based
infectious disease early-warning system will enable program managers to anticipate potential epidemics in atimely manner so as to minimize the local spread of the diseases.

2

About SATREPS(Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development)
SATREPS (http://www.jst.go.jp/global/english/index.html) is a Japanese government program that promotesinternational joint research that is structured as a collaboration between the Japan Science and Technology Agency(JST) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Many of the greatest threats that we face today including global warming, infectious diseases, and natural disasters
are global issues that are intractable without further advances in science and technology. In order to resolve such
issues it is essential to have an active commitment from the research community to develop and apply newtechnology, acquire new knowledge, and encourage innovation and economic development. Global issues affectmore than a single country or region, and cannot be resolved without international collaboration. Developing
countries tend to be hit particularly hard by such issues, and have a strong need for research and development
based on local needs. Many developing countries also have an urgent need to enhance their independent capacity
to comprehensively handle global issues and train appropriate human resources.
Based on the needs of developing countries, the program aims 1) to enhance international cooperation in scienceand technology between Japan and developing countries, 2) to acquire new knowledge and technology that leadto the resolution of global issues, and 3) to boost capacity development (i.e., encouraging self-reliant research anddevelopment capacity in developing countries with constructing sustainable research systems, networking
between researchers, and training future human resources in developing countries and in Japan).

Main Participating Organizations
JAPAN
Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
SOUTH AFRICA
Applied Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS)South African Medical Research Council (MRC)
South Africa Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Department of Health: Limpopo (DoHL)
University of Cape Town (UCT)
University of Limpopo (UL)
University of Pretoria (UP)
University of the Western Cape (UWC)

3

Schedule
Morning Session
9:00-9:30

Registration

9:30-9:35

Welcome address
Prof. Noboru Minakawa
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NEKKEN)

Opening remarks
9:35-9:40

Prof. Shigeru Katamine, President of Nagasaki University

9:40-9:45

Dr. Mohau Pheko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Republic of South Africa

9:45-9:50

Ms. Modiegi Selematsela, Deputy Director
Department of Science and Technology, Republic of South Africa

9:50-9:55

Dr. Neville Sweijd, Acting Director
Applied Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS)

9:55-10:00

Mr. Masayuki Sato, Senior Resarch fellow, Department of International Affairs
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)

10:00-10:05

Mr. Yoshiharu Yoneyama, Deputy Director General, and Group Director for Health Group 1

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

10:05-10:30
10:30-11:15

Coffee breakSpecial lecture I
Dr. Mohau Pheko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Republic of South Africa

11:15-11:35

Special lecture II
Mr. Koichiro Fukase, Research Group Chief Curator
Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

11:35-12:05

Special lecture III
Prof. Satoshi Hirose, Vice Director
Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University

12:05-13:30

Lunch break4

Afternoon Session
13:30-13:40

Overview of iDEWS project
Dr. Ataru Tsuzuki
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NEKKEN/JICA)

13:40-14:20

Disease surveillance
Mr. Philip Kruger, Department of Health: Limpopo (DoHL)
Prof. Angela Mathee, South African Medical Research Council (MRC)
Prof. Rajendra Maharaj, South African Medical Research Council (MRC)
Dr. Brilliant Petja, University of Limpopo (UL)

14:20-15:00

Disease modelingProf. Masahiro Hashizume
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NEKKEN)
Dr. Shingo Iwami, Kyusyu University
Prof. Peter Witbooi, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
Prof. Noboru Minakawa
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NEKKEN)

15:00-15:40

Climate modeling
Dr. Swadhin Behera
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Dr. Francois Engelbrecht
South Africa Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Dr. Takeshi Doi
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Dr. Yushi Morioka
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Dr. Jayanthi Ratnam
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

15:40-16:00

Coffee break & Posters

16:00-17:00

Panel discussion
Chaired by Neville Sweijd
Applied Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS)
Co-chaired by Noboru Minakawa
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NEKKEN)

Closing remarks
17:00-17:05

Prof. Angela Mathee, South African Medical Research Council (MRC)

17:05-17:10

Prof. Kiyoshi Kita, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)5

Participants Profiles
Shigeru Katamine graduated Nagasaki University School of Medicine in 1976,
and was granted Ph.D. by Tohoku University in 1982. Since he got a tenure
position of Nagasaki University in 1984, he has participated in education
and research in the field of Virology. During his research carrier, he spent 3
years (1985-1988) at National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Md, USA tolearn modern life science. His research interest, in particular, has been
human retroviruses and prion, and his scientific contributions were
published in the Journals with the major impact, such as Lancet, Nature,
Science, and so on. In 2002, he joined the administrative office of the
University as the Vice-President, and since 2008, he has been the President of Nagasaki
University.
Mohau Pheko began her tenure as The Republic of South Africa’s Ambassador
Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary to Japan. 20+ years of progressive
professional accomplishments in the areas of economic planning, development,
public health, budget planning, training and facilitation, international
development, health economics, rural development, organizational design,
gender development, analysis and training. She has served as a consultant fordevelopment assistance programmes for various United Nations agencies,
expert in project formulation, and transformational strategies to promoteeconomic and social development in Africa. Known for acting as a mentor and engaging teams,
keeping them motivated, fresh, and focused especially on high-profile, high-stressassignments. Ability to deconstruct development information and discourse, compelling policy
makers, corporate sector & NGO’s to engage with development issues effectively. Mohau
Pheko is a rare breed of person. Throughout her career, she has shown a strong commitment
to all facets of equitable global relationships, enlightened governance, gender equity andengagement with issues of global regimes involving international trade, globalization, humanrights, climate change and democracy. Pheko joined the Department of International Relations& Cooperation August 2010. 2010 -2011 served as The Republic of South Africa’s HighCommissioner to Canada.
Modiegi Selematsela is currently employed by the Department of Scienceand Technology (DST) as Deputy Director: Health Innovation and her
responsibilities include the development of strategies and policies relevant
to health innovation for South Africa with a focus on infectious diseases,
HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. She has extensive research management
experience and has contributed towards the establishment of the DST’s
priority innovation programmes aimed at the discovery/development ofdrugs, diagnostic and vaccines for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. She also
manages some of the health-related collaborative projects with foreign partners. Prior tojoining the DST, Ms Selematsela served an Assistant Director in the Department of Healthwhere she was responsible for the development of policies for the safety and labelling of foods
derived from modern biotechnology as well as compiling new and amending existing
regulations with respect to pesticide and veterinary drug residues in foodstuffs.
Neville Sweijd is the Acting Director and Operations Manager at ACCESS
having joined the programme full time in January 2011, having been the parttime manager of the programme for two years prior to that. His main tasks are
to ensure that the development, management, implementation of the ACCESS
programme (governance and activities) run smoothly and to liaise among thepartners and principals of the programme. Neville has a PhD in marine science
which he obtained from the University of Cape Town, Neville is passionate
about people and development and the role of science in creating new opportunities.

6

Koichiro Fukase is a senior researcher at the Nagasaki Museum of History
and Culture. He is a historian specialized in the modern history of Japanand the history of trading and culture exchange in East Asia. After working
for Waseda University for three years, he joined the museum in 2008.

Satoshi Hirose born in Fukushima Prefecture in 1961, graduated fromInternational Christian University in 1985 then proceeded to the Graduate
School of Public Administration of ICU. He is currently serving as a
Professor and the Vice Director of Research Center for Nuclear WeaponsAbolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA). He is a member of the Board of
Directors of JAUNS and a co-editor of ‘Disarmament Review‛ , an academic
journal issued by the Japan Association of Disarmament Studies. He used toserve for the United Nations Development Programme as a programme officer and for the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as a legal adviser to the Japanese Delegation to theConference on Disarmament. He also participated in the Review and Extension Conference of
the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty held in New York in 1995 as a member of Japanese
Delegation.
Ataru Tsuzuki is an assistant professor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine,
Nagasaki University. After his degrees of BSc and MSc for health science from
University of the Ryukyus, he has participated malaria control project in Laos
as a volunteer between 2000 and 2002. He has mainly worked forestablishment of entomological studies to measure the impact of insecticide
treated bed-net distribution under close collaboration with Laotian healthofficials at rural villages. He also worked for International Vaccine Institute(IVI) in Korea after his MSc degree for Epidemiology obtained from London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at 2003. As a field epidemiologist in IVI, he worked
for multi-country Typhoid vaccine trial to supervise local health workers maintaining
appropriate surveillance system. In 2006, he moved to Nagasaki University and obtained PhD
on his study of dengue ecology and epidemiology in Vietnam. He was recently dispatched toSouth Africa as a JICA Expert for the iDEWS project.

Philip Kruger is the Head of the Malaria control programme in Limpopo, aprovince in South Africa, with the highest incidence of malaria. He has been
involved in malaria control for the past 25 years. Over the years, he hascollaborated with a number of tertiary institutions on research projects
related to malaria control. In this regard, he has authored and co-authorednumerous research papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Outside
South Africa, he has provided technical assistance in setting up control
programmes in various African countries eg Angola, Mozambique,Zimbabwe, Uganda, Cameroon and Tanzania.

7Angela Mathee has a Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of the
Witwatersrand and a Master of Science in Environmental Epidemiology and
Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She
currently serves as Director of the MRC Environment & Health & Research
Unit and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for
Urban Health. She is a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg
and an Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her main
research interests are lead exposure and poisoning in developing countries and the publichealth aspects of climate variability.

Rajendra Maharaj is the inaugural Director of the Medical Research Councils
Office for Malaria Research He has a PhD in Entomology from the Universityof KwaZulu-Natal as well as a Master’s Degree in Infectious Disease Control
from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is an extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria. He has over 23 years ofexperience in malaria research and control and his main area of research isinnovative technologies for the control of malaria vectors. He serves on anumber of national and international committees whose focus is malaria
elimination.
Brilliant Petja is a Research Associate at the Risk and Vulnerability Centre of
the University of Limpopo, South Africa. He is also a Scientific Manager inthe Research Directorate of the Limpopo Department of Agriculture. He
obtained a Bachelor of Environmental Sciences (University of Venda), a
Master of Science (Remote Sensing) from University of the Witwatersrandand a Doctor of Philosophy in GIS and Remote Sensing from University of
Limpopo. His research interests involve applications of GIS and Remote
Sensing across different aspects including climate change, ruraldevelopment, public health and epidemiology amongst others.
Masahiro Hashizume is a professor of environmental epidemiology in theInstitute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University. After earning a PhD
from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he conductedepidemiological studies to estimate the impact of climatic factors andflooding on the incidence of infectious diseases in Asia and Africa. His
current topics of interest focus on the health impacts of weather and global
climate change but also include the health risks of air pollution including
Asian dust. He is an editor-in-chief of Tropical Medicine and Health, official
journal of the Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine, and a contributing author for theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fifth Assessment Report.
Shingo Iwami is an associate professor of mathematical modeling in
Department of Biology, Kyushu University. Along with the rapid
development of experimental techniques in molecular and cell biology,
important results have been achieved in the field of virological andimmunological disease. In many studies, however, these experimental
techniques have focused on elucidating only one aspect of the disease.
Mathematical modeling, in tandem with rigorous experimental work, offers
an opportunity to analyze disease progression more comprehensively. He iscurrently working to establish a new field in Japan called “Computational virology andimmunology” which combines experimental analyses, mathematical modeling and analysis,
and computational simulation to understand the dynamical systems of disease.

8

Peter Witbooi obtained his doctoral degree in Mathematics from the
University of Cape Town, 1995, and held postdoctoral positions at Princeton
University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He joined the University of theWestern Cape in 1980. He is presently a Professor in the Department ofMathematics and Applied Mathematics.

Noboru Minakawa is a professor of vector ecology in the Institute of Tropical
Medicine, Nagasaki University. He was trained as an aquatic entomologist
and fish biologist. He started malaria vector research when he worked forInternational Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya 20 years
ago. Since then, African malaria vectors have been his main researchsubjects. Through the field research in various parts of Africa, he has been
convinced that climate is the main driver of malaria outbreaks. He is theprincipal investigator of the iDEWS project.
Francois A. Engelbrecht is a principal researcher at the Council for Scientificand Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, where he is leads the Climate
Studies, Modelling and Environmental Health (CSM&EH) research group. He
specializes in the fields of climate model development and climate dynamics,
and currently leads the development of an African-based Earth System
Model at CSIR, in collaboration with national and international partners.
Engelbrecht has published widely in the fields of climate modelling and the
projection of future climate change over Africa. He is a member of the Working Group on
Numerical Experimentation (WGNE) of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) anda Honourary Research Associate of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, where
he leads the research of a number of post-graduate students specializing in climate modelling.
Yushi Morioka is a climate researcher working at JAMSTEC, who investigatesphysical processes of climate variability in mid-high latitudes of theSouthern Hemisphere and its potential sources of predictability. Hisparticular interest is air-sea interaction in the southern Indian and South
Atlantic Oceans, which strongly affects southern African climate. Since his
PhD, he has been involved in the JICA/JST project (SATREPS) related to theclimate variability over southern Africa. Currently, he is working on
development of next-generation climate model by incorporating ocean data
assimilation system toward a better understanding of climate variability at decadal timescale.
Takeshi Doi is a researcher in the Application Laboratory at Japan Agency ofMarine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). He is working fordeveloping dynamical seasonal prediction systems. He earned his Ph.D. in
Climate Dynamics from the University of Tokyo in 2009. After that, he wasselected as a Princeton University AOS postdoctoral research fellow, andworked at GFDL/NOAA, U.S in 2010-2012. From May 2012, he joined
JAMSTEC. He received an Editor's Award for the Journal of Climate from theAmerican Meteorological Society, Jan. 2012 and FY2013 JAMSTEC
outstanding research award, Apr. 2014.
Jayanthi Venkata Ratnam has been working at JAMSTEC as a researchscientist since 2008 on climate variability using regional models and global
models. Main interests are in understanding the affects of various climate

9

modes like Indian Ocean Dipole, El Nino Modoki on the global climate especially the climatesof southern Africa, Australia and Japan.

Swadhin K. Behera is a principal researcher and a group leader in the
Application Laboratory of JAMSTEC. He has been associated with various
centers and programs after getting his Ph. D. in India and joining JAMSTEC
in early 1998. He also serves as a visiting professor for the Department of
Ocean Technology, Policy and Environment at the University of Tokyo andas a guest professor at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies
in Sophia University. He has the distinction of doing world-classscientific research and publications in climate variation research such as the
Indian Ocean Dipole, the Indian Ocean Subtropical Dipole, the El Nino Modoki and the recently
identified Ningaloo Nino. Together with his group he is also involved in the climate
prediction and its societal applications studies. He has obtained distinguished reviewer’saward from AGU and distinguished researcher awards from JAMSTEC.
Ms Gcino Mlaba is currently employed at the Department of Science andTechnology (DST) as Deputy Director: Development Partnerships (DP) in thesection: International Resources and Cooperation (ICR). Her responsibilities
include developing strategies and action plans to leverage strategic Official
Development Assistance (ODA) in support of South Africa’s (SA) science andtechnology (S&T) system and to manage relationships between the DST and its
development partners. She is also responsible for mediating the flow of ODA toregional and sub-regional initiatives and co-ordinating projects between the DST and S&T national
and international stakeholders.
Previously, she was an intern and later Assistant Policy Analyst at the Presidency where she
developed a good understanding of South Africa’s political landscape, governance system, andforeign policy. Her main responsibilities included policy research, analysis, and coordination andproviding advisory and programmatic support to the Social Sector Office which was responsible foradvising the President, Deputy President and Ministers in the Presidency on matters pertaining topoverty eradication, social assistance, and youth development. She has contributed to various policy
and strategy documents such as the Fifteen Year Review (2008) and the National Youth Policy(2009-2014). She is a Political Science graduate.

1011