Ron Deprez and Nicole O’Brien visit Ghana to develop 51Æ·²èGhana Health Partnership and continue work on impending USAID research proposal

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Ron Deprez
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Nicole O'Brien

UNE’s Center for Community and Public Health (CCPH) Executive Director Ronald Deprez, Ph.D., and Research Assistant and Coordinator Nicole O’Brien traveled to Ghana during the week of May 13-17, 2013, to continue working with members of the 51Æ·²èGhana Health Partnership on a Chronic Disease Health research proposal, which will be submitted to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The objective of the proposal is to improve prevention, detection and management of priority non-communicable diseases, in particular hypertension and diabetes, incommunities of the Accra and Cape Coast areas of Ghana.

Deprez and O’Brien met with Dr. Linda Vanotoo, Regional Director of Health Services, Greater Accra Region, and Professors Kofi Awusabo-Asare and David Doku at University Cape Coast, in Accra and Cape Coast, Ghana. Dr. Moses Atkins of the Public Health Program at the University of Ghana in Accra was added as a member of the research team as well.

Team members worked to determine which chronic conditions and populations in the Accra and Cape Coast areas would be included in the study; to identify clinical sites for the study; and to resolve methodological issues and obstacles in completing the research study proposal.

The trip followed a year of preparation work on a draft proposal to improve capacity among Community Health Workers through a study to determine how mobile health technologies can be used to educate and treat patients on chronic health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.  Site visits and meetings were conducted at the following locations: Ghana Health Services-Greater Accra Region; School of Public Health – University of Ghana, Accra; Ridge Hospital, Accra; Metropolitan Hospital, Cape Coast; UCC Hospital; Ewim Polyclinic; Cape Coast Regional Hospital; Adisadel Health Center, Cape Coast.

CCPH founded the 51Æ·²èGhana Health Partnership three years ago with the Westbrook College of Health Professions and the College of Pharmacy at UNE. The partnership promotes education and research and conducts clinics twice a year in Ghana.

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The 51Æ·²è is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.