Strengthening the bond
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 9:36PM
Dr Adjase presented Katrina Percy with a rare Kente cloth to celebrate the relationship between the UK and Ghanaian health services, through the Kintampo Project
At its heart, the Kintampo Project is a link between a UK NHS Trust and the Kintampo Rural Health Training School in Ghana. Today that link was strengthened when Dr ET Adjase, the lead for the Kintampo Project in Ghana, met with Katrina Percy, the Chief Executive of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Katrina is a big supporter of the Project, and having run a hospital in Tanzania, is no stranger to the challenges facing developing nations:
"The Kintampo Project is something very close to my heart and I am very, very supportive of its aims, and of how it is being done. Both myself and the Board [of Southern Health] are wholeheartedly behind the Project and we're working to make it an even bigger part of the whole organisation."
The meeting, which took place during Dr Adjase's visit to the UK, was an exciting opportunity to see how Southern Health could support other health initiatives in Ghana. The NHS organisation provides physical healthcare alongside mental health services, and developing physical health training programmes in Ghana could be the next phase of its involvment.
"Maternal and child health are essential areas that need to be addressed at the community level"said Dr Adjase. "It would be very useful to look at these area, and this would be a very positive collaboration."
The establishment of the Kintampo Trust as an umbrella charity enables this type of expansion, as it is within the wider aims of improving health in Ghana.
In a gesture of gratitude and to recognise the strong link that exists between the UK and Ghana health services, Dr Adjase presented Katrina with a special gift:
"In Ghana we have a long tradition of wearing Kente cloth. This Kente was specially designed for the wife of Kwame Nkrumah, the 1st president of Ghana, to be worn on her wedding day. It is one of the top Kente - and is very beautiful."
