The Global Health Education Promotion Institute (GHEPI) is a community-based not for profit organization which aims at improving the health and total wellbeing of target communities (globally) by providing disease prevention and management as well as economic development programs. This non-profit organization is established in Charles County and registered with the State of Maryland.
GHEPI seeks to establish community-based health education and economic development Centers that will collaborate with existing wide variety of health-delivery organizations to develop and to provide age-specific and culturally-sensitive disease prevention and management programs to target communities globally. It focuses on empowering target communities to be economically independent so that they can access available quality health care services.
The Institute will also act as the voice for these target communities in the public health policy arena, promoting and encouraging health system reforms that improve health care access and quality of care. We anticipate that in the near future, a profit company will also be set up to financially and technically support the activities of GHEPI Institute.
The formation and operationalization of GHEPI Institute Centers have been necessitated by plethora of challenges facing vulnerable target communities, summarized below as:
- Inadequate information and education on prevention and management of diseases
- Low level understanding of the role that an individual and collective behavior play in the starting and spreading of diseases
- Low-income levels making it difficult to access quality health care.
Mission
GHEPI is committed to improve the health and total wellbeing of target communities by providing health prevention and promotion education and economic development programs.
Vision
The vision of GHEPI is to be the reference point for the provision of age-specific and culturally appropriate disease prevention and management programs to target communities within three years.
HISTORY
Global Health Education and Promotion Institute (GHEPI) is a not for profit development organization founded in 2017 and registered with the State of Maryland Department of Assessment and Taxation on September 12, 2017 as a non-profit organization. In many developing countries like Ghana, access to information on many key areas of disease prevention is very limited, if non-existent. GHEPI realized the need of developing public health infrastructures in underserved populations and developing countries where critical health information seems to be lacking.
The idea of developing health education to create knowledge and awareness was conceived during the dissertation research study conducted in Ghana by the organization’s president, Charles K. Manu, PhD, in 2013. This research concluded that many people, especially, those residing in the rural areas were not exposed to the needed health education programs geared toward disease prevention. Most people were unaware as to the definition, causes, symptoms, and prevention of many chronic diseases. These included diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and other lifestyle modification programs (diet and physical activities). It is against this background that GHEPI was formed to particularly devise strategies to provide people with cutting-edge educational tools to reduce and manage chronic diseases. Through education and creating awareness among the target population, it is envisaged that there will be a significant reduction of chronic diseases over a period of time.
In Ghana, for example, it is very important to note that it is not generally all about the generation of information and or availability, but where and how to access it. Perhaps, the most underpinning feature of the healthcare systems in developing countries such as Ghana is the doctor to patient ratio, which was 1:8000 in 2017. Currently, people in the rural areas continue to experience serious health care challenges resulting from lack of fully staffed medical centers. The challenges stem from lack of accessible road networks, good schools, and other public health infrastructures; hence doctors are not willing to work in the rural areas. This was emphasized during the Presidential address in commemoration of the 50th induction and oath swearing ceremony at the University of Cape Coast Medical School, in the Central Region of Ghana on August 13, 2017 (Graphic.com, Ghana, 2017).