The Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, has secured a major $5.1 million award from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited’s Global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme to strengthen climate-resilient health systems through Ghana’s pharmacy workforce.
The award, secured by a KNUST team led by Professor Priscilla Kolibea Mante of the Department of Pharmacology, College of Health Sciences (CHS), will support PharmAdapt, an innovative initiative designed to equip pharmacists with the knowledge, skills and systems required to respond effectively to the growing health impacts of climate change.
The project will be hosted by the KNUST Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, further highlighting the Faculty’s growing role in advancing research, innovation and solutions to emerging health challenges in Ghana and beyond.
Professor Mante will serve as Team Lead, supported by Professor Edmund Ekuadzi and Professor Samuel Asare-Nkansah, who will serve as Technical Portfolio Leads.
Positioning Pharmacists for Climate-Resilient Healthcare
Through PharmAdapt, the KNUST team will strengthen the capacity of pharmacists to contribute meaningfully to climate-responsive healthcare. The initiative will focus on climate-related health risks, emergency preparedness, climate-responsive pharmaceutical care and environmentally sustainable pharmacy practices.
The project will also develop practical tools, standards and approaches to enable pharmaceutical systems to anticipate, prepare for and respond to the health consequences of climate change.
For the KNUST Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the initiative represents an important opportunity to translate pharmaceutical expertise and research into practical interventions that address one of the defining health challenges of the 21st century.
“Climate change is increasingly shaping the health challenges our communities face, yet the pharmacy workforce remains an underutilised part of the response. PharmAdapt gives us an opportunity to change this by equipping pharmacists with the knowledge, tools and systems they need to contribute meaningfully to climate-resilient healthcare,” Professor Mante said.
She added that the ambition of the project extends beyond individual capacity building to developing approaches that can become embedded in pharmacy practice and scaled beyond Ghana.
KNUST Strengthening the Pharmacy Workforce
The Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor Christian Agyare, described the partnership with Takeda as an opportunity to expand the contribution of pharmacists to climate action and health-system resilience.
“Takeda's support gives us an excellent opportunity to put pharmacists right at the heart of how we respond to climate change and health. Through the PharmAdapt project, we will train our pharmacists, prepare them for emergencies, and build standards that will last well beyond this project,” Professor Agyare said.
He further noted that the partnership would enable KNUST to generate practical tools and lessons with relevance to countries across West Africa and beyond.
The project brings together KNUST’s expertise in pharmaceutical sciences, health research, workforce development and innovation, reinforcing the University’s commitment to using research and academic excellence to address complex societal challenges.
For the College of Health Sciences, the award further demonstrates the impact of interdisciplinary health research and the contribution of its faculties to developing innovative solutions for emerging health threats.
A Major Milestone for the Faculty
The $5.1 million award marks a significant milestone for the KNUST Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, positioning the Faculty at the centre of an international effort to build climate-resilient health systems.
Through PharmAdapt, the Faculty will leverage its expertise in pharmaceutical education, research and professional practice to help build a pharmacy workforce that is better prepared for emerging climate-related health challenges.
The initiative is also expected to generate evidence, tools and lessons that can inform climate-responsive pharmacy practice and strengthen health-system preparedness in Ghana and other settings.
About the Takeda Global CSR Programme
PharmAdapt is one of four new collaborations selected under Takeda’s 2026 Global CSR Programme to advance climate-resilient health systems.
Takeda has committed a combined $22.2 million to the four initiatives, supporting locally led approaches to strengthening health systems in communities vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The selected collaborations span Ghana, Nepal, Honduras, Peru, Egypt and Lebanon and address different dimensions of climate-related health-system resilience.
Through the $5.1 million KNUST award, the PharmAdapt project will focus on strengthening the pharmacy workforce as frontline contributors to climate-resilient healthcare while advancing climate-responsive care and environmentally sustainable pharmacy practices in Ghana.
The partnership adds another significant chapter to the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ contribution to health innovation and reinforces the KNUST College of Health Sciences’ commitment to research that delivers meaningful impact locally, nationally and globally.