Kumasi-Ghana, Dec. 2I, GNA – The Mastercard Higher Education Health Collaborative of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has engaged stakeholders in health to share ideas on empowering the next generation of health workers.
Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo, the Principal Investigator on the Project, speaking at the meeting, said the health collaborative was to set the stage to improve the universal healthcare coverage through the creation of employment, health ecosystems and health entrepreneurships.
He said the health sector’s success was critical to Ghana in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“We are of the view that through the stakeholders meeting where everybody who matters as far as healthcare delivery is concerned, will be able to bring on board the ideas, we shall harness the various talents in contributing to the next generation of healthcare workers,” Prof Owusu-Dabo assured.
The Mastercard Higher Education Health Collaborative aims to build and strengthen capacities of healthcare students and professionals to meet growing demand for Primary Health Care (PHC) in the health sector.
It will also enable students to acquire advanced skills in Africa across a broad range of disciplines critical for sustainable health sector growth and transformation and optimize entrepreneurial ecosystems in and through universities in Africa to launch and scale health start-ups to create jobs.
The project will further develop a dynamic, sustainable, long-term network of leading African universities, alumni, government agencies, health care start-ups, and private sector partners working together to create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems in the next ten years.
Prof Owusu-Dabo said by coming up with programmes believed to help the average Ghanaian health service provider, the workers would be empowered through skills, competencies and knowledge to implement concepts that brought health to the doorstep of the people.
He said the project had identified some key gaps in the health sector, such as lack of skills and competencies in data science, gaps in the management of non-communicable diseases in areas of mental health, drug misuse and abuse, injuries and road traffic accidents, which needed to be tackled head-on.
“These gaps have been identified and stakeholders are going to create employment through certifications of new programmes at KNUST and also to ensure certificate courses are run to give the middle-levelled manpower person implementing the ideals of healthcare concepts in various jurisdictions,” he stated.
