The World Health Organization (WHO) Ghana office in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Africa has begun a three- and half-day leadership workshop for 24 heads of agencies, regional directors of health and senior leaders in the health sector to enable them transform health outcomes in the country.

The ‘Pathway to Leadership For Health Transformation’ residential workshop which forms part of a four-month leadership development programme of the WHO is aimed at nurturing a new breed of agile leaders for whom self-learning and self-reflection constitute their ways of working.

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, in her remarks at the opening ceremony said the organization has worked with Health Minsters to design a bold, relevant and timely programme which will contribute to leaders being more results oriented, transparent, accountable and equipped to deliver on their mandate of improving population health.

“This transformative programme is to give you an opportunity to deepen your management and leadership skills to share strategies, challenges and resources with each other and partners,” she said.

Country Director for WHO, Ghana, Dr. Francis Kasolo, said people expect more of the health sector especially during a critical time such as the Covid-19 Pandemic.

“This critical time has also brought about unprecedented opportunities to advance Ghana’s national roadmap for Universal Health Care (UHC) into a concrete, achievable reality for improved health outcomes for Ghana’s people,” he said.

He said it is therefore important to build the necessary leadership and management competencies including innovation and mentorship to drive the country’s reform agenda forward.

Dr. Kasolo indicated that at the end of the training, the leaders will proceed into one-on-one coaching with the esteem facilitators for another period of about two months at the end of which they will be certified as health leaders by the WHO.

“This is just the first cohort, our aim is that through the coming year, we will train different groups of leaders. We are starting with the senior leaders because they are the people that drive the policy and strategies. We will then move down to bring on board the middle management leadership from the agencies so that they are all in tune with what we are delivering,” he said.

Deputy Minister of Health, Alhaji Mahama Asei Seini, who is participating in the workshop said the issues of health has become multifaceted and dynamic so a training programme like the one being organized by the WHO will help sharpen the leadership skills of the participants so they can execute the proper instructions for the overall wellbeing of Ghanaians.

“This training is going to allow for teamwork from here and we will carry the knowledge that we have acquired to our various institutions,” he said.