Transcript of the speech delivered by Professor Bertie Squire awarding the honorary degree, Doctor of Science to Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah. January 2021
President, Chair of the Board, Director, students, ladies and gentlemen:
Both personally and in my role as Dean of LSTM’s Faculty of Clinical Sciences & International Public Health it is with great pleasure and pride that I represent LSTM here today to recognise a leading figure in Global Health who has contributed so much and across such a range of activities; particularly in health systems strengthening:
Dr Anarfi Asamoah-Baah.
I was interested to learn that right from childhood, the young Anarfi Asamoa-Baah was fascinated with living organisms; particularly butterflies and birds and humans and these early fascinations ultimately led to him studying medicine. (I am proud to note, as an aside, that I also enjoyed a childhood fascination with African butterflies!)
From those early interests, Dr Asamoah-Baah went on to become both a leading personality and a role model in the field of Global Health. A few extracts from his impressive CV illustrate this:
After graduating from the University of Ghana Medical School he opted for a rural clinical service. During that time he hosted an LSTM student on attachment and that led to him choosing LSTM for his Masters in Public Health when he was awarded a World Health Organisation Scholarship. He went on to acquire an impressive range of additional post-graduate; Health Planning, from the University of Keele; Health Economics, from Aberdeen University; and Health Policy from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
After Liverpool, Dr Asamoa-Baah returned to Ghana in 1990 to head the Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Ministry of Health. From there and through a number of roles he modestly describes how he, and I quote, “..was part of the movement to advance the strengthening of the District Health Systems in Ghana; in the establishment of the Ghana Health Service, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Food and Drugs Authority, and for establishing a mechanism of partnership with external contribution to the health sector in Ghana”.
In 1998, he joined the WHO as Senior Policy Advisor to the Director-General. Over the years, he was Assistant Director-General in the WHO for External Relations and Governing Bodies; for Health Technology and Pharmaceuticals; for Communicable Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and as Coordinator of the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases.
He is particularly proud of the role he played in establishing GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunisation and the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria.
In short, Dr Asamoah Baah has dedicated his life to working towards the attainment of universal access to quality health care and treatment.
As a worthy ambassador, Dr Asamoah Baah, your alma mater, LSTM, is immensely proud of you and your achievements.
President, Chair of the Board, Director, students, ladies and gentlemen:
I present to you Dr Anarfi Asamoah-Baah, as eminently worthy of the honorary degree, Doctor of Science