Dr Irene Agyepong — Makes Ghana proud (Mirror Page 3)

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Dr Irene Agyepong, the newly selected occupant of the Prince Claus Chair, has revealed the secret behind her flying success — ‘consider God as your employer and endeavour to offer your best to please Him’.
In a hearty chat with The Mirror, Dr Agyepong, a Health Expert, who is also the Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, says accomplishments are sweeter when they come while one is serving God and country.
“In everything I do, I should be able to add something positive to the development of my country,” she stressed.
Born in August 1960, the soft-spoken shy, Kwahu public health practitioner said much of her modest achievement was based on her desire to move forward in life, no matter the odds, and acknowledged the role played by her parents, Godfried and Margaret Agyepong who hailed from Kwaku Abetifi and Atibie respectively. Of course, she did not leave out her husband, Reverend Curtis Amartefio, a Teshie born Pastor at the Riches of Glory Church, Adenta, whom she described as very supportive and understanding.
Her desire to help reduce diseases and pain in society motivated her to enrol in the University of Ghana Medical School in 1986, together with nine other young women and 60 young men.
Today, on the recommendation of the Curatorium of the Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity, the Board of Utrecht University has appointed Dr Agyepong as occupant of the Prince Claus Chair.
She will hold the chair for two years until the end of August 2010. Dr Agyepong, according to the university, will conduct research into health care in Africa.
The Prince Claus Chair is an academic chair in the area of international development held on a rotating basis and established by Utrecht University and the Institute of Social Studies.
Dr Agyepong will give her inaugural lecture on May, 28, 2009 in the Academiegebouw (University Hall) in Utrecht.
Dr Agyepong, effectively called Akua, said she did not know about the honour, let alone apply for it, but explained that the application was made on her behalf by the chairman of an international research-based committee, the Netherlands African Clinical Trials and Capacity Building Against Poverty-Related Diseases, which she had served on since 2004.
“In my dealings with the committee, the chairman might have noticed something good in me and decided to put my name on the list without first telling me about it,” she pointed out.
She explained that the committee combined scientific research with investment in Africa to support the fight against diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Dr Agyepong was among the first three people to be shortlisted for the chair. She went for an interview early last year and was selected, ahead of the other competitors. Meet her for the first time and you will easily learn that she believes in investing in research into public health and the development of health policies.
“Whenever a critical political decision has to be made, there is no time to first set up a research programme and then wait for the results. The great advantage of a good research centre in Africa is that it supports the local health system, studies trends and provides answers to tomorrow’s political questions.”
She was once quoted to have said that “strengthening of the health care systems in Africa must be an integral part of the current focus on poverty-related illnesses, such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.”
In addition to her job as the Director of Health Services, Professor Agyepong works as a part-time lecturer at the School of Public Health at the University of Ghana Medical School, where she helps in capacity building. She also continues to work as a researcher on a wide range of health-related issues.
When she was asked how she manages to combine all these together with her role as a pastor’s wife and mother of four children. Dr Agyepong said she believed in proper time management. “I often work on my laptop, while moving in and out of work, and also anytime I attend a meeting and the other people are not ready, I do not sit idle, but continue to work on the laptop”.
She described herself as a shy person (and rightly so) who has tried hard to grow out of her shyness. She said she believed in fairness, justice and truth, which sometimes made people think that she was too difficult.
To her, “if it is not yours don’t take it!” She also believes that the best thing to do is to save another human being in any way possible. “People say I am critical when I annoy them, but when I please them, they say I am analytical”.
Dr Agyepong is a member of the NWO/NACCAP Programme Committee, which combines scientific research with investment in Africa to support the fight against diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The institution which honoured her, the Curatorium of the Prince Claus Chair, established in 2003, in honour of Prince Claus of the Netherlands (1926-2002), is chaired by Princess Máxima. Outstanding young academics from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean or the Pacific are eligible to hold the chair. The holder is appointed by the Utrecht University and the Institute of Social Studies to promote research and education in international development.
The chair has previously been held by Prof. Alcinda Honwana (Mozambique), Prof. Nasira Jabeen (Pakistan), Prof. Rema Hammami (Palestine), Prof. Gaspar Rivera Salgado (Mexico), Prof. Amina Mama (Nigeria/South Africa) and Prof. Mansoob Murshed (Bangladesh).
After her first degree at the Ghana Medical School, she attended Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool in 1991, West African College of Physicians- Public Health (Part 1) in 1992 in Nigeria, as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, where she specialised in Health Policy and Administration/Public Health Leadership in 2000.
The celebrated health expert has served in various capacities in the Ghana Health Service since she worked as House Officer at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Department of Internal Medicine, between 1986 and 1987.
She has more than 40 works, most of them published to her credit, and that explains why she was able to receive such a prestigious honour which serves as an inspiration to many Ghanaian women.
Dr Agyepong, who is the first of four children (two boys and two girls), had a piece of advice for girls — learn to move higher in life and don’t allow anything to push you down. Quoting from Churchill, Dr Agyepong said “if you find yourself in hell move on, you might move out of it”.
She lamented that society was not doing much in the area of counselling, and suggested that there should be counselling centres to counsel young people who failed in one area or another to try something else.