Mastercard Foundation recently funded Kwame Nkrumah University‘s seminar on health systems transformation over the next five years for participants from the Ghana Health Service. As a William H. Gates Sr. Institute Center of Reproductive Health Excellence, the university develops graduate curricula and degree programs in reproductive health and extends its influence to strengthen reproductive health teaching and research capacity in the region.
The seminar, titled “Strategic Leadership for Health Systems Transformation in Developing Countries,” is a compulsory elective that currently trains about 300 MPH and PhD residents at Kwame Nkrumah University each academic year. The seminar has been running for the past two decades and attracts residents from across Africa. Course materials equip students with the knowledge and expertise to serve in top leadership positions across the continent.
The seminar is taught over 10 working days by a team of five facilitators led by Easmon Otupiri, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population, Family & Reproductive Health. Easmon notes, “I believe the seminar has pushed policymakers to acknowledge the importance of training people to manage the health systems and leadership and management for health.”
Seminar materials are adapted from the foundational course developed by faculty and staff at the Institute led by Dr. Ben Lozare and Prof. Emeritus Dr. Henry Mosley. The leadership workshop continues to exist as a self-sustaining tuition-funded program, and its curriculum and training materials have been adapted and institutionalized in several partner programs across the world including Indonesia, China, Kenya, and Bangladesh.
The Institute’s seven Reproductive Health Centers of Excellence—established two decades ago—remain integral academic partners of the William H. Gates Sr. Institute for Population and Reproductive Health and Johns Hopkins University, training the next generation of reproductive health researchers working to fill the knowledge gaps in population dynamics, reproductive health, and family planning.
