In October 2023 when Dr. Margarita Kleopatra Lam Antoniades led a team of physicians from the University of Toronto to Ghana, she was excited to meet the twenty who had been selected for the first cohort of the quality healthcare improvement course by the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative, KNUST in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, albeit her first time in the country.
Though she reveals she didn’t have the opportunity to frolic on Quality Healthcare Improvement during her medical school years, she was determined to share with participants of the course the pearls she’s garnered throughout her illustrious practice.
“We actually learned with our students. We gave them tools, we gave them the structures that allowed them to think about the approach of how to make things better.
“But the tools are not enough. In addition to the tools we needed the passion and vision to look around and see what those things that need to be improved are,” she said.
For a class of twenty, five groups sufficed. These groups chose pertinent topics like diabetes, hypertension screening, waste management too mention but a few to come up with solutions to tackle problems in these areas.
After a few months, when she decided to check up on their progress, she was impressed.
“What I realized with the wonderful students is that I see that passion and vision in Ghana.
“We had a zoom meeting with them last week to hear about their projects and it’s incredible to see the amount of work they did to achieve in such a short period of time,” she said with glee.
As the second cohort of twenty beneficiaries begin their journey this week, Dr. Antoniades has only one wish: “I hope we’ll be proud of the next cohort, I’m sure.”
About quality healthcare improvement course
The quality healthcare improvement short course which is in partnership with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Toronto, seeks to equip health personnel with the requisite strength and capacity to meet the growing demand for primary healthcare in the health centre.
The course is spearheaded by the health employment pillar of the Collaborative led by Dr. Kofi Akohene Mensah.
About Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative
The Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation seeks to advance primary healthcare in Africa through three pillars: Health Employment, Health Entrepreneurship and Health Ecosystem.
The Health Entrepreneurship pillar aims to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and culture that supports entrepreneurs to create meaningful innovations and employment opportunities in the health sector.
The Health Ecosystem pillar also aims to train and prepare a new generation of talented professionals with the broad sets of skills required to drive equitable and inclusive growth.
The Health Employment pillar also aims to expand and improve current capacities to train primary healthcare workers. This workshop is under the auspices of the health employment pillar.