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Crucial step forward for ULHG/UL-Ghana healthcare training project

ULHG UL-Ghana healthcare training project
Presentation of ESTHER Ireland accreditation plaques to the Learning for Lives Ghana project at University Hospital Limerick.

A JOINT project voluntarily run by UL Hospitals Group (ULHG) and the University of Limerick (UL) to establish a pre-hospital emergency care skills training programme in Ghana have been officially accredited by ESTHER Ireland, which supports sustainable partnerships between health institutions in Ireland and the developing world.

Hala Ali, Coordinator for ESTHER Ireland and the ESTHER Alliance for Global Health Partnerships, attended University Hospital Limerick (UHL) last week to present accreditation plaques to Colette Cowan (CEO, ULHG) and Prof Rachel Msetfi (Dean of Education & Health Sciences, UL).

Ms Ali also met with some of the 11-strong Learning for Lives Ghana team, who were guests of honour at a celebration of the project for hospital staff, hosted by Ms Cowan at the Clinical Research & Education Centre (CERC) in UHL.

As Learning for Lives Ghana is not a charity or NGO, the accreditation is particularly important, cementing its international credibility. Learning for Lives Ghana now becomes an accredited partner in a network of European health associations and government organisations that support institutional health partnerships between the Global North and South.

Learning for Lives Ghana, a collaboration between ULHG, UL Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS) and UL Paramedic Studies in partnership with the national health service of Ghana, was established to minimise preventable deaths by providing local healthcare workers with training in Pre-Hospital Emergency Care skills.

Ghana has a population of some 30.8m people, with just 0.11 physicians per 1,000 of population (compared with Ireland’s 2.7 per 1,000). The West African national has an infant mortality rate of 44 per 1,000 live births (compared with 3 in Ireland), and a maternal mortality rate of 319 per 100,000 births (compared with our 8).

Over the three years from 2016 to 2019, the Learning for Lives Ghana team provided 240 Community-based Health Planning & Services (CHPS) workers with basic life-saving skills, and delivered specialist instruction in hand hygiene, sepsis, physiotherapy, nutrition and neonatal care, for hospital staff as well as for CHPS workers.

The volunteers also devised a Train The Trainer course on the project’s curriculum, creating a local training cohort of 30 trainers, ensuring continuity and sustainability and leading to the positive transformation of healthcare standards for the 1m residents of Ghana’s Upper West region.

UL Hospitals Group CEO Colette Cowan said she was delighted the project had received accreditation from ESTHER Ireland, which has also provided funding for the annual visits of the Learning for Lives Ghana team to the Upper West of Ghana.

Ms Cowan reiterated her support for the project, which realises one of her key strategic objectives as CEO of UL Hospitals Group, to establish links with a developing country, and which has more than delivered on its core objectives of partnership, education and sustainability.

“The project has surpassed our initial remit. It has created a more educated, competent and skilled staff group, enabling them to deliver the training independently, ensuring sustainability and continuity. It has been a great opportunity for our staff, and I have been hugely impressed by everyone’s dedication to the project,” Colette added.