At the 12th Graduation Ceremony of the Ministry of Health Training Institutions (MoHTI) affiliated with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi a significant shift in Ghana’s health education landscape was declared. It emerged as one that challenges the very identity of training institutions.
“We envision training institutions that don’t only provide knowledge but generate it,” said Professor Christian Agyare, Provost of the College of Health Sciences. His statement signals more than aspiration. It affirms KNUST’s growing reputation as a powerhouse in research, innovation, and evidence-based practice.
For decades, Ghana’s training colleges were known primarily as teaching centres: places where skills were transferred, not necessarily discovered. But the dynamism of modern healthcare: from digital diagnostics to community epidemiology demands practitioners who can question, analyse, produce data, and shape policy, not only follow established guidelines.
KNUST’s affiliation with the MoHTI campuses has therefore evolved beyond curriculum support. It has become a catalyst for building a new culture of inquiry, one in which tutors and students form the frontline of Ghana’s research ecosystem.
Prof. Agyare’s commitment reflects a deliberate institutional strategy. Preparations are underway to build capacity in research writing, scholarly publications, and applied scientific inquiry across the affiliated training institutions.
This is not a symbolic gesture. It is a foundational shift toward empowering mid-level healthcare professionals to contribute meaningfully to the Ghanaian and African evidence base.
In a global knowledge economy, Africa’s health challenges including: maternal health gaps, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition transitions, occupational exposures cannot rely solely on imported data. They require African evidence, generated by African researchers working in African contexts. KNUST’s initiative is thus not only academic; it is an act of intellectual self-determination.
By equipping tutors and students to conduct research, publish findings, and influence policy, the University is cultivating a pipeline of practitioners who will write new chapters in healthcare knowledge from an African perspective.
This is how nations build strong health systems: not only with more classrooms, but with more thinkers.
If Ghana’s future health workforce becomes confident in inquiry, prolific in research, and grounded in context-driven solutions, it will be because institutions like KNUST dared to challenge the traditional role of training colleges and reimagine them as engines of innovation.
Already, many areas of Ghana’s healthcare system are receiving a significant boost through the KNUST Africa Health Collaborative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. With the addition of this crucial area, Ghana is once again poised to take the lead in holistic health training in the sub-region and across Africa.
By: Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah
