Dr. Juliette Tuakli, Child and Reproductive Health, University of Ghana, Legon

Child Health is a new and vital course that the Gates Institute has enabled me to teach at the University of Ghana’s School of Public Health. At the School’s Gates Malaria Centre, I teach physicians and medical personnel destined to become district and hospital administrators throughout Ghana.

Rather than simply focus on the dire health statistics of the country, we try to understand the implications of these statistics in Ghana, the region, the continent and the world. Invariably, by the end of the course, the nature of the discussion changes greatly, reflecting the fact that the course empowers the students to think outside the box.They begin to consider solutions that do not depend solely on external resources, but also involve a reconfiguration of existing resources, including the participation of youth, women, children and men locally, nationally and regionally.

I am paid a pittance compared to my previous salary at the Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital of Boston. This experience, however, counts among my most important contributions as a public health/pediatric health professional.

Dr Juliette Tuakli, Professor, Child and Reproductive Health
University of Ghana, Legon