A public health expert, Dougbeh Chris Nyan, is proposing the establishment of a “Liberia National Volunteer Service” as an auxiliary force to help the government deliver needed services to the society and populations.
Speaking to the audience and members of the Rotary Club, Dr. Nyan said, “like the Peace Corps Volunteer established by the late US President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s, Liberia needs to establish similar volunteer force to carry out various duties in society for needed communities in healthcare, education, and other areas of social needs.”
Dr. Nyan was speaking at the induction ceremony of the new corps of Rotary Club officers headed by Tukus Ama Harris for the 2024/2025 term which coincides with the 60th Anniversary of the Rotary Club in Liberia.
The Rotary theme, “Service above Self,” was amplified throughout the evening by Rotary-Monrovia’s president Harris and other Rotarians who spoke at the program, and emphasized putting one’s community and society above self-interest.
The infectious disease scientist, Dr. Nyan, was selected to keynote the event because of his numerous years of volunteer services rendered in clinical medicine, public health, academia and science research in Liberia and many parts of Africa as well as the USA.
Dr. Nyan, the biomedical scientist who sponsors university and graduate students in the health sciences and public health through his “Nyan Scholarship Program (NSP)” has said that, “I rather use my personal financial resources and expertise in building skyscrapers in the brains of students, than building concrete mansions that uneducated children will only see and admire, but probably never owned.”
He applauded the Rotary Club of Liberia for the many years of services rendered to various communities in Liberia.
Newly inducted Rotary Club President, Ama Harris, called on Rotarians to continue their selfless sacrifices and services to the communities. She stressed that her administration will focus on maternal-child health.
In support of the Rotary’s maternal-child health program, ‘Dr. Nyans Scholarship Program (NSP) offered to support three students in midwifery on behalf of the Rotary Club of Monrovia-Liberia, at the Deana Kay Issacson School of Midwifery located in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.
Dr. Nyan is currently performing the second leg of his 2024 unpaid National Volunteer Service in public health, lecturing microbiology and conducting infection-control workshops at various academic and healthcare institutions in Liberia.
He is the world acclaimed inventor of the US patented Rapid Multiplex Diagnostic Test (The “NYAN TEST”) for infectious diseases including Ebola and the Coronaviruses. For his inventions, also won the prestigious “African Innovation Award Special Prize for Social Impact” prize in 2017.
