The Wellness Centre at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi has hosted a delegation from the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale Campus, to exchange insights on establishing a similar facility.

The two-member delegation comprised Ms. Helen Akpene Garti, Lecturer at the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and Ms. Patience Kanyiri Gaa, Lecturer at the Department of Dietetics, both from the School of Allied Health Sciences.

“We want to learn and understand the nitty-gritty on how KNUST Wellness Centre operates, as we plan to start up a Wellness Centre at our campus,” Garti said, expressing appreciation for the warm reception and opportunity to engage.

Welcoming the delegation, Dr. Mrs. Phyllis Tawiah, Chairperson of the Wellness Centre Committee, recounted the Centre’s origins and outlined its mandate to provide preventive and curative health services to the university community.

“Preventive medicine is not something people in this part of our world are interested in,” she said. “It takes working closely with visionary leaders who are passionate about the topic like our Vice-Chancellor Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson, Professor Ibok Oduro, among others.”

“We welcome you to the idea of living well and we hope that together we can make our lecturers and communities better,” she added.

Dr. Tawiah urged the delegation to view the initiative not as a departmental concept but as a transformative university-wide effort. “Tap into different faculties of the university to push the agenda of the Wellness Centre forward,” she said. “Our teaching is that those who don't feel like going to the hospital can come to the wellness center. Your goal is to promote wellness on campus.”

Professor Ibok Nsa Oduro, former Chairperson of the Wellness Centre Committee, led a presentation on the Centre’s activities and encouraged broader engagement across the UDS campus.

“You have to push it out because you want the whole university to buy into it,” she said. “Your communication and discussion about it should be without yourself as a nutritionist.”

The visit concluded with a tour of the Centre’s facilities, including medical consultation rooms, a gymnasium and recreational areas.

The delegation commended KNUST for its investment in wellness infrastructure and expressed optimism about replicating similar interventions at their campus.