The Child Health Directorate of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, in collaboration with the Department of Child Health of the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the KNUST, has launched the maiden edition of its research dissemination day. 

The conference is aimed at promoting child health research in Ghana to drive the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal 3. 

The scientific conference, under the theme: “Research and Innovations for Improved Child Health Care” would facilitate the pathway to improving children's survival in Ghana. 

The event saw some clinical researchers at the Child Health Directorate of the hospital showcase their research contributions. 

Chief Executive Office of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr. Oheneba Owusu-Danso lauded the leadership of the child health directorate for broadening the frontiers of specialist and sub-specialist services and research.

He indicated a means of improving the hospital’s patient management outcomes is through the conduct, dissemination, and application of research results. 

“The mission of the hospital is to provide continuously improving quality specialist services to meet the increasing needs and expectations of our large clientele. 

“This can only be achieved through the conduct, dissemination, and application of research results, as this remains a key component in improving patient management outcomes in a timely and cost-effective manner.

“Research is the precursor of quality improvement, sustainability, and innovation,” he said. 

Pro-Vice Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo charged the leadership of Child Health to support in nurturing young female paediatricians in research fields. 

He believes the initiative would contribute to improving neonatal survival in the country. 

“The research we are carrying out at Child Health is not only aimed at SDG 3 but also SDG 4. 

“Talking about gender equity, we also must intentionally educate our young female talents. 

“I’d like to charge you to support our young female doctors to be able to spearhead research and lead in some of these as principal investigators. 

“So that we can also impact not just child survival through equity in female representation but also through clear cutting-edge scientific research,” he said. 

Keynote Speaker, Professor Samuel Newton, urged healthcare practitioners to conduct evidence-based research to buttress existing clinical practices.  

He also encouraged doctors who have never conducted research not to be daunted by the demanding work implicated in research. 

“I will encourage you in the course of your work to resist the urge to say that’s the way it has always been done and seek for evidence approaches to child health care. 

“It’s not easy for someone who has not bitten by research to understand what it is about. One thing about research is that if you haven’t done it before it’s pretty daunting. 

“You may not know where to start from and also money is in short supply so the donors are very particular about who they give their monies to,” he said.