Over the last two years, CGHE has made significant steps towards the development of a groundbreaking collaborative platform in Ghana, marking a significant evolution in the longstanding partnership between U-M and Ghana’s national health leadership. Known as the Ghana U-M Health Impact Platform, this initiative aims to transform healthcare delivery and outcomes through interdisciplinary research, capacity building, and clinical training, across a wide range of health disciplines. CGHE is placing significant investments to further leverage longstanding, bidirectional partnership between the University of Michigan and a consortium of national-level stakeholders in Ghana including the Ministry of Health, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of Nurses and Midwives, and the Christian Health Association of Ghana. The ultimate aim for this initiative is to establish a collaborative network that unites partners from the University of Michigan with those in Ghana’s health sector to drive breakthrough, impactful projects geared towards health improvement throughout the nation. This collaborative platform is poised to broaden the scope of high-quality healthcare by sharing knowledge and resources strategically, fostering cross-disciplinary research, and offering clinical training designed to yield tangible improvements in the quality and accessibility of healthcare services. Our strategic direction emphasizes the expansion of these partnerships beyond academic medical centers, empowering regional hospitals to evolve into centers of excellence for training, research, and service delivery. These hubs will be instrumental in elevating health outcomes across Ghana, reaching out into areas far beyond the major cities and advanced care facilities.
To achieve these goals, the platform will employ a multi-disciplinary strategy that unites medical professionals, academics, and field experts dedicated to enhancing health research and building clinical capabilities. This alliance of diverse expertise will be critical in shaping a more equitable and sustainable health environment in Ghana.
The first project delivered through this platform will focus on strengthening health systems in the Bono East region of the country with the aim of developing scalable models of capacity building in training, research, and community engagement. Over the next year, CGHE members will work in close collaboration with the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, to conduct a needs assessment in regional hospitals and health centers. The assessment will be used to identify further areas of partnership to improve health outcomes at the population level.
