TWO students from Africa are hoping their time in the UK studying at Worcester University will enable them to make improvements to healthcare in their own country.
Alice Azongo, from Ghana, and Calliope Ntuyenabo, from Rwanda, are both doing a year-long Master’s degree in Healthcare Management and Leadership at the university as part of a Commonwealth Scholarship. Neither student has travelled outside of Africa before.
The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK provides the scholarship scheme and is sponsored by the Government’s Foreign,
Commonwealth & Development Office. It is designed to support innovators and leaders of the future from across the Commonwealth, while attracting outstanding talent to the UK’s universities.
The scholarship pays for the students’ fees, while the university provides accommodation and pays a stipend to cover the students’ living expenses.
Alice, from Bawku, in upper east Ghana, had previously worked as a nurse.
Last year she was appointed to a leadership role, which involves managing a health centre and other community health facilities within the area.
A senior colleague mentioned the scholarship programme and Alice came across the course at Worcester.
She said: “I have always wanted to study outside of my comfort zone and experience a different culture. I read a little bit about the City and the University’s achievements, and I felt this would be the right place to come. So far the course has been so good.”
Alice plans to return to her hometown in Ghana afterwards.
She explained: “I want to look at ways of improving access to healthcare. The management knowledge I get here I want to take back home and help my people to get quality healthcare.”
Calliope studied Biomedical Laboratory Sciences at Rwanda University and was working for an organisation that supports the Ministry of Health.
He added: “My country wants to eliminate viral hepatitis B and C and I was supporting heath facilities to achieve this. But I felt like my skill set wasn’t enough to provide that support. You need to expand the service delivery in an inclusive way. However, you need also to continuously monitor and improve the quality. That was my main reason for coming.”
