Margaret Gyapong Wins “Heroine of Health Award 2017”

The vital impact of women in global health research and improvement goes largely unnoticed. For this reason, the "Heroine of Health Award" was bestowed for the first time to honour and draw attention to the dynamic contributions of 12 women in global health. Prof. Margaret Gyapong, Director of the Centre for Health Policy and Implementation Research in Ghana and a Swiss TPH graduate, was among the awardees. "The award is a huge stimulus for me to continue my way", she says.

Close ties to Swiss TPH and the University of Basel

Dr. Gyapong started her impressive career at Swiss TPH, where she earned a PhD in 2000. Her doctoral studies built on her training as an anthropologist, focusing on the socio-cultural aspects of controlling lymphatic filariasis in Ghana. Later she supported the establishment of both a national filariasis-control programme in Ghana and a demographic surveillance system at the Dodowa Health Research Centre. "Without the support of and the long partnership with Swiss TPH, I would not be where I am today", Gyapong, who is also part of the Swiss TPH External Review board, says.

Successfully training researchers from the South

In the last 30 years, almost 600 students from the global south have earned their degrees through Swiss TPH and the University of Basel. Like Margaret Gyapong, many of them have returned to their home countries to improve the situations of the most neglected populations. "These efforts in education are central to improving health systems in Africa and Asia", says Marcel Tanner, former Director of Swiss TPH and Margaret Gyapong's PhD supervisor.