Prescribing Cookstoves for Health in Ghana?
In early June, the Global Alliance, in partnership with USAID’s Translating Research into Action Project (TRAction), Ghana Health Service, and Kintampo Health Research Centre held the world’s first ever certified continuing medical education training focused on household air pollution.
More than 60 physicians, public health practitioners, and researchers from Ghana, Cameroon, and Ethiopia participated in the event, which was accredited by Ghana’s Medical and Dental Council. The training emphasized the critical role of clinicians in identifying the health consequences and reducing the burden of household air pollution through individual patient interactions, and equipped participants with the tools to understand and counsel on the benefits of adopting clean cooking solutions.
This training is an example of the Alliance’s ongoing efforts to ‘mainstream’ household air pollution into the public health sector. The Alliance was honored to have the Ghana Health Service’s active support for prioritizing household air pollution as a major public health issue. This reflects yet another opportunity to partner with the public health community to accelerate the health benefits of scaling up clean cooking. Plans are underway to replicate the training elsewhere in Ghana, as well as in Ethiopia and Cameroon. TRAction and Alliance staff are also in the process of developing an online curriculum for global dissemination.