Cambridge-Africa

Mark Owusu's Trip to Ghana: Outbreaks and Outreach

Mark O 1

My name is Mark Owusu and I am a Ghanaian PhD student in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge and am being supervised by Professor Caroline Trotter, the Director of Cambridge-Africa. My research focuses on the epidemiology and control of meningitis in Ghana and applies mathematical modelling to assess the outcomes of meningitis vaccination.  I am exploring a range of scenarios in relation to meningitis vaccination in Ghana alongside the associations between climate markers and meningitis rates.

As part my research, I visited Ghana in early 2023 to engage with the key stakeholders working on meningitis control in the country. These included the director of the public health division of the Ghana health Service, the former and current directors of research, the regional health directors of Upper West and Northern Regions, Tamale teaching hospital administration, the Public Health Reference Laboratory, Municipal health directors of Wa, Jirapa and Nandom municipality with their public health teams, and the Navrongo Health Research Institute. The aim of these meetings was to gain a better understanding of meningitis in Ghana and how mathematical skills could inform public health initiatives focused on the control of meningitis in Ghana.

 The largest burden of Meningitis occurs in the Meningitis Belt. This is an area of sub Saharan-Africa stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia. In 2020 the World Health Organization published a roadmap for defeating meningitis by 2030. This was the first ever WHO resolution on meningitis and was endorsed unanimously by member states.   Prof Abraham Hodgson (former director of research, GHS) expressed keen interest in my ongoing work and commented that it is timely and relevant for the control of meningitis in the country which is in line with the World Health Organization’s objective to defeat the disease by 2030.

I found the whole trip to be very rewarding and it has enabled me to develop a strong understanding of the epidemiology of meningitis in Ghana. The trip has also strengthened the research collaboration between the Ghana Health Service and the University of Cambridge. As a result of my research, I was invited to join the team working on the 7-year strategic plan on meningitis in Ghana. I would like to thank the Ghana Health Service, especially the public health and research divisions, for their cooperation and support during my work in Ghana.

 Following the successful field work, I was able to take a short trip to my family home. During this break, I visited all the schools in my local community on behalf of the Akuma Educational Foundation https://www.akumaeducation.org/. This is a project I co-founded with a fellow student at Wolfson College, Cambridge. The Foundation previously organised an inter-school quiz competition in December, 2022 where each participating school was given a computer and sports kits. This time, together with the local team for the Akuma Educational Foundation, we gave motivational talks and donated stationary for each of the students.

 

A photo taken with teachers, students, and members of the foundation during the visit at Akuma Presby primary school.

I am grateful to my supervisor and the Vaccine Modelling Group for their encouragement and enormous support in my studies. I would like to thank my department and Cambridge-Africa for funding this visit and for my PhD at Cambridge respectively.