By Maxwell Awumah
Ho, Oct 28, GNA-The Fourth Annual International Research Conference 2026 of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) has kickstarted with the search for answers in global innovation, resilience healthcare in a fast-changing health ecosystem.
The three-day gathering in Ho, which is being attended by researchers, health professionals, policymakers, industry partners, students and guests is under the theme, “Innovating for Resilient Healthcare Delivery in a Changing Global Health Ecosystem.”
Its expected outcomes entail mapping of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets; shared scientific understanding and audit of global ecosystem achievements and identify precise gaps; co-designed innovation by developing evidence-based quality primary care solutions built with and for communities rather than imposition.
Professor Lydia Aziato, the Vice-Chancellor of the UHAS, welcoming participants said across the world, health systems are being tasked to respond to changing disease patterns, climate-related risks, antimicrobial resistance, rising non-communicable diseases and increasing demands on limited resources and the conference is here to chart a pathway.
For Ghana and other low- and middle-income countries, the challenge is not simply to generate more knowledge but to produce relevant evidence, translate it into practical solutions, and ensure that the benefits reach the communities we serve.
At the UHAS, Prof Aziato said research, teaching and service are inseparable as a health-focused university and optimistic of preparing professionals, who can think critically, work across disciplines and respond compassionately to the needs of society from primary healthcare and universal health coverage to infectious disease control, non-communicable diseases, environmental health and emerging technologies.
She underscored the need for innovation to be purposeful with digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) with the potential to strengthen research, improve decision-making and expand access to care.
She added these technologies must be applied responsibly, with attention to quality of evidence, patient safety, equity, confidentiality and human relationships at the heart of healthcare.
The Vice-Chancellor said equally important are sustained investments in research capacity and partnerships that allow promising ideas to move beyond conference discussions into policy and practice, while, showing appreciation to the Local Organizing Committee, speakers and moderators, sponsoring institutions and partners.
She appealed to participants to engage generously, challenge assumptions, learn from one another, mentor emerging scholars, and identify collaborations that can endure beyond these three days.
Prof Alexander Ansah Manu, the Director, Institute of Health Research, and Chair, Conference Organising Committee, UHAS, said the forum brings the opportunity to move deliberately from describing challenges to discovering evidence, improving delivery and developing sustainable solutions.
He said the four connected tasks—Description, Discovery, Delivery and Development—frame the kind of scholarship conference seek to advance at UHAS believing the three-day exchanges would generate more than “stimulating presentations: new collaborations, actionable research priorities, stronger links between evidence and policy, and commitments we can assess long after the conference has closed.”
He added: “We need implementation research, robust evaluation, cost-effectiveness evidence and partnerships that translate knowledge into routine practice and policy.
“Resilience is not the ability to endure the next crisis unchanged. It is the capacity to learn, adapt and build systems that protect lives more effectively and sustainably, whilst leaving no one behind.”
Prof Manu inferred that prolonged dry spells in Oti region, threaten agricultural livelihoods, households, food security with drought affecting about 59,000 hectares of cultivated land and, sea surges and erosion in southern Volta, ultimately, affecting nutrition, health, homes, livelihoods and community infrastructure.
These, he said, were not simply agricultural or environmental concerns but are questions of health equity, displacement, nutrition, mental well-being and the capacity of public services to adapt.
Professor John Humphrey Amuasi, the Head of Department of Global Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in a keynote presentation highlighted that in a rapidly changing global health ecosystem, and need innovation, resilient and flexibility.
He said the global health ecosystem was born to protect trade and to protect economic interests, insisting there was a need to find ways of rebuilding with emphasis on protecting people, animals, and the environment and be adaptable.
He called for building threat-ready health systems with durable domestic financing in Public Health Care, CHPS task-shifting trials and community-readiness before any shock.
Prof Amuasi enumerated the threats as poor mental health, obesity, high systolic blood pressure, nuclear conflict and potential nuclear famine, malicious use of AI, low educational attainment, income inequality, high alcohol use, conventional conflicts, climate change, childhood malnutrition among others, which need to be surmounted.
The conference will hold plenaries, innovative showcases and medical screening, policy dialogues and panels as well as networking and partnerships.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reported by Maxwell Awumah
Email: [email protected]