The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has introduced a Bachelor of Science Programme in Community Health, the first to be run in the country.
Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, said it was part of the effort to build the capacity of community health professionals for efficient job performance.
He added that it was going to provide significant boost to community healthcare.
He was speaking at a graduation ceremony held for students of the university’s affiliated nursing, midwifery and community health training institutions in Kumasi.
The programme, jointly organised by the KNUST and Ministry of Health (MoH), saw a total of 10,171 students graduated and presented with diploma and certificates.
Prof Obiri-Danso said the number of healthcare professionals in every nation was reflective of the health of that nation.
He underlined the readiness of KNUST to collaborate with other institutions to address challenges of accessibility and capacity-building in the heath sector for optimal healthcare delivery at all levels.
The vice-chancellor indicated that through partnership with Ramapo College in the United States (US), it had worked to enhance advanced learning in nursing, culminating in the introduction of a Master of Science (MSc) Programme in Nursing.
Plans, he said, were also underway to design other programmes to deal with the peculiar needs of the health sector.
In line with this, its College of Health Sciences would mount a programme in professional education at the pre-service training to develop the culture and build the capacity of health personnel in team work.
Prof Obiri-Danso said as the foremost science and technology training institution, the university was committed to introducing into the health sector innovative programmes that would bring improvement in healthcare services.
It would do this with assistance from the MoH to achieve quality healthcare and reduce the incidence of maternal and infant mortality, communicable diseases and infections.
GNA