Recipient of the Global Health Future Leaders Scholarship:
"This scholarship gives me the golden opportunity to study in a world class institution learning to be a Master in Global Health, an aspiration I have had since I began practicing as a medical doctor three years ago. This would have been impossible without this help considering the cost involved. This opportunity provides a stepping stone for me to pursue further PhD studies in Global Health, which has been a goal I have been committed to for years now."
I am Birgit Agyeiwaah Baah, a young Ghanaian medical doctor working at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Hospital, Kumasi as locum tenens while awaiting permanent posting to a district hospital under the Ghana Health Service, Ashanti Region.
It has been a desire since my secondary school education to pursue a program that would impact the health system of my country and Africa at large. This was one of my motivations for pursuing medicine as an undergraduate course in my country. However, in my two years of practice as a medical doctor, I have come to realise that to achieve this dream I would need further studies in Global Health to achieve such level of impact.
Having worked in Ghana for the past two years, it is obvious our health systems need a boost and support in terms of transforming health care objectives into a reality, matching public health resources with local and state needs and implementing programs to facilitate the development of the health care systems such as those pertaining to the development of personnel resources within technicalsupport.
Although the country has made major progress in all sectors of the health system, there is however a greater responsibility to improve the performance of the health system across the six building blocks of health systems namely service delivery, health financing, health workforce, medical supplies, management information system and leadership or governance. There is also the need maintain this progress by avoiding future deteriorations in the health indicators to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
My career aspiration is to work as a public health advisor in a governmental institution or an international organisation such as the World Health Organisation, formulating policy and programming guidance on regional and international health issues. One of the aims of this course is to develop critical knowledge and skills for effective health systems management to address global health inequalities.
Participating in this course would be an excellent opportunity to be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge and expertise to advise and formulate policies on effective and efficient health systems management in our poorly managed health systems in Ghana.
Attendance at LSTM would also be a stepping-stone to allow me to pursue further studies in a PhD program in Global or International Health.
As part of our 125 Anniversary Campaign, we are raising funds to support an additional 125 new scholarships to increase our capacity to support talented students studying on campus in Liverpool and around the world. These include full and partial scholarships to ensure that the most promising global health leaders can study at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, irrespective of their circumstances.