Organised by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the training programme was to expose health practitioners to modern techniques of improving healthcare delivery and addressing challenges affecting the health sector on the continent.

The programme, designed by the Management of Development Institute (MDI), had participants from Ghana, Cameroun, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. It was sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, a global manufacturer of healthcare products.

At the opening ceremony in Accra, the West Africa regional Director of MDI, Professor Anthony Sallah, said since the programme commenced, more than 900 participants from 32 African countries had benefited.

He said the programme had been designed to enhance the leadership and management skills of programme managers to implement their stated national health priorities.

Prof. Sallah, who is also a Senior Lecturer, said GIMPA, over the past years, had championed the campaign for the improvement of the health care sector on the continent.

The institution, he said, had developed to become one of the best that trained people in various fields.

Need for collaboration

A member of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Board of Directors, Mr Atta Paidoo, who opened the ceremony, said although a lot of resources had gone into the health sector, little had been achieved so far.

He said there was the need for various health managers in the sub-region to team up and work together to address challenges that hindered the growth of the health sector.

Mr Paidoo attributed the slow pace of growth in the health sector on the continent to the lack of collaboration among the various healthcare institutions in the country.

He said the only way for Africans to improve the healthcare delivery sector was for countries to collaborate on how to find solutions to issues affecting the growth of the health sector.

Considering the huge investment in the sector, Mr Paidoo stressed there was the need for health managers to adopt modern methods of improving healthcare delivery.

He, therefore, commended GIMPA and Johnson and Johnson for the efforts to enhance healthcare delivery in the sub-region.

Mr Paidoo also called on the participants to take advantage of the programme to upgrade their skills and use their knowledge to contribute towards the growth of the continent.