International Summit on Health in West Africa launched

General News on Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Source: www.ghananewsagency.org

2018-11-28

The International Summit on Health in West Africa, a global meeting on health aimed at creating a platform for hospital leaders, policymakers and health professionals across borders, was launched in Accra.

The conference would share practical experiences and current best practices in health care and also provide leaders and policy makers with the opportunity to communicate with manufacturers of the latest health care technologies, products, equipment and services.

Teacher. George Gyan-Baffour, Minister of Planning, represented by Ms. Magdalene Apenteng, Acting Director General of the Ministry, congratulated the organizers of the upcoming program, stating that the event would provide the platform to promote best practices in institutions and explore ways to strengthen cooperation between hospitals in Africa.

The theme of the three-day forum, scheduled for February 20-22, 2019, is "Collaborating through networking and technology to improve health care in Africa."

The summit is expected to host 691 manufacturers and suppliers, and more than 30 sessions in various disciplines, including health financing, health management and administration, telemedicine, sustainable development goals, public health, nursing, herbal medicine and diagnosis.

Professor Gyan-Baffour also indicated that as Chair of the High Level Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, he wanted to ensure a collaborative effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Africa 2063 Agenda.

He added that the forum provided an opportunity to facilitate and coordinate the different agencies to create a competitive advantage to succeed and achieve the expected results.

Professor Gyan-Baffour also said that the agenda and the program of the summit would offer practical training sessions and workshops on the latest advanced technologies, which would be led by renowned experts.

He said the meeting would stimulate cooperation among African health facilities and also create a directory of African health care to continuously highlight the progress made by health facilities on the continent.

Professor Nuhu Zakariah, director of the Ghana Ambulance Service (GAS) also congratulated the organizer of the impending summit, saying any activity aimed at improving the health care of the population should be welcomed.

He stressed the need to strengthen the collaboration and networking of the various actors in the health sector.

"The members of the emergency services are all the more worried that we are finding that as a country, our emergency response system is failing. It is not difficult to have an effective system, we simply need the collaboration of good organizations, "he added.

Professor Zakariah also expressed satisfaction with the GAZ to be part of the summit, adding that the initiative was commendable.

He said health facilities in the subregion should cooperate to ensure better health care delivery for their populations.

"As Africans from the West, we have the human resources. What we need to do is collaborate. Sometimes you have underutilized resources simply because we do not collaborate enough, "he added.

Professor Zakariah further stated that in many advanced countries, the majority of the experts who manage these health care delivery systems are Africans, adding that their expertise could be exploited by taking them home.

Mr. Kwaku Asensu Brobbey, communication director of the Mental Health Authority (MHA), said he was enthusiastic about the media launch of the health summit and said he was waiting for the event with impatience in February 2019.

He said the MHA was interested in the technological aspect of the summit because the authority had identified many challenges in this area.

He explained that, although the MHA does not have enough psychiatrists in the country, it would be able, thanks to technology, to fill this gap.

Mr. Asensu Brobbey stated that one of the areas that the authority wanted to focus on was telepsychiatry, on which the conference would be able to provide the appropriate collaboration and networking in this regard.