The Mastercard Foundation Health Collaborative of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi has held a stakeholder engagement for Persons with Disability (PWDs) at KNUST.
The meeting brought together over one hundred and fifty participants drawn from various districts in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The program sought to create awareness of proposed interventions and capacity-building programmes specifically designed for persons with disability. The engagement gave opportunities to the various PWD groups to share their views on how programmes could be designed to suit their needs, as well as challenges that prevent PWDs from accessing decent work opportunities in the health sector.
Dr. Joseph Owusu, the Pillar Coordinator for Health Ecosystems under the Health Collaborative, emphasised the need to address the barriers that prevent PWDs from accessing decent work opportunities. He stated that PWDs make up approximately 15% of the world's population, with 80% of them being of working age. However, he noted that according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 2021 report, the right to decent work for PWDs has been frequently denied, particularly for women, who face enormous attitudinal, physical, and informational barriers to equal opportunity in the world of work.
To address this issue, he stated that the Mastercard Health Collaborative will assist persons with disability to have access to decent, dignified, and fulfilling jobs in the health sector through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, competence, and experience. He indicated that the health-related programme was designed to equip PWDs to increase their job prospects in the health sector. Dr. Owusu further outlined the programme and areas of training the Health Ecosystems seek to target which include Health Communication Agents; Medicine Counter Assistants; Health Information Management; Medical Laboratory Sciences; Phlebotomy. He emphasised that these programmes earmarked for PWDs will soon commence.
He revealed that the program focuses on PWDs who have completed Senior High School but are unable to upgrade themselves to the tertiary level to earn a decent and sustainable livelihood. He added that 20 persons with disabilities will benefit from free tuition, a monthly stipend, and free accommodation every year for the next five years. ‘‘This programme is designed to support 100 PWDs, especially women and girls with a disability to be trained for the next 5 years,’’ he stressed.
Mr. Karim Iddrisu, the Chairman of the Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled in Obuasi Municipal, expressed optimism that the program would improve the quality of life for persons with disability. He continued by saying that the initiative was a step in the right direction as it will allow PWDs to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills from the Mastercard Health Collaborative Programme.
Mastercard Foundation Health Collaborative Programme at KNUST
KNUST is one of the eight partners of the Higher Education Collaborative in Health to contribute to all three pillars of the health strategy: Health Employment, Health Entrepreneurship, and Health Ecosystems.
The objectives of the Higher Education Collaborative in Health are to Build and strengthen the capacity of healthcare students and professionals to meet the growing demand for Primary Health Care (PHC) in the health sector; Enable students to acquire advanced skills in Africa across a broad range of disciplines critical for sustainable health sector growth and transformation; Optimise entrepreneurial ecosystems in and through universities in Africa to launch and scale health start-ups to create jobs; Develop a dynamic, sustainable, long-term network of leading African universities, alumni, government agencies, health care start-ups, and private sector partners working together to create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems. The project will further develop a dynamic, sustainable, long-term network of leading African universities, alumni and government agencies, healthcare start-ups, and private sector partners working together to create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems in the next ten years.
The Principal Investigator of the project is Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo, Pro Vice-Chancellor of KNUST.
