A Model Of Excellence : Prof. Afua Hesse's Example

Last week I cried for mother Ghana in this column. After the publication, I received a few e-mail messages from some of my readers who re-echoed the sentiments I had expressed saying that I was not alone in my thoughts.

According to them, they do also cry for Ghana looking at all the missed and untapped opportunities which are within our grasp as a country. Yet, we go around with cup in hand begging for assistance to build this great country of ours.

This week, I am wiping away my tears, at least for now, and I do hope that those who are reading the column will be waving their white handkerchiefs with me by the time they finish reading this piece.

I feel elated this week for being a Ghanaian woman for two reasons. The first is the news of my nomination for and receipt of the Best Columnist Award for 2009 at the 15th Ghana Journalists Association Awards which was held last Saturday.

I am encouraged by this honour and so I wish to dedicate the Award to the women of Ghana, particularly, the single mothers whose toils on daily basis are giving better lives to their families and making impact in their societies and their country.

Their contributions will never go unnoticed. However, my biggest glee is the opportunity to have had an exclusive chat with a super role model that I had long been waiting to talk to.

I have been wanting to talk to Professor Afua Hesse, a fabulous woman achiever whose unfailing devotion to her work and country has finally landed her in the highest position any woman in the medical profession in this whole wide world would ever wish for.

My dying to meet with her was so that she could share her success story which inspires and revitalises many other women through this column.

Last month, in far away Muenster, Germany, Professor Afua Hesse was sworn in as the new President of the Medical Women's International Association (MWIA), also better described as the world Association of Women Doctors.

Her investiture was witnessed by over 600 women doctors and other international representatives from across 52 countries.

In the over 90-year history of the world body, this is the second time an African is heading the Medical Women's International Association for which Ghana has been a member since 1969.

The first African woman doctor to have headed the Association is Dr Florence Mangugu of Kenya.

The super rich achievements of Professor Afua Hesse, a Paediatric Surgeon by profession, has left me spell bound.

I have consequently decided to dedicate this page to her and to celebrate her achievements in the world of Medicine while sharing her refreshing experiences with many women, particularly the young ones.

The story of Professor Hesse is a reassurance that they need not look outside for super role models for they abound at our backyard right here at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Professor Afua Hesse is an old girl of Wesley Girls High School. In 1971, she was the only teenager in her class to have gained admission to the University of Ghana Medical School.

Her love for children (she has four of her own and several adopted children), and the passion to champion their well-being influenced her career path spanning over 30 years of successful medical practice.

Over the period of three decades, Professor Hesse has had some breakthroughs in her work as a Paediatric Surgeon.

For good 20 years, she has been the lead consultant in surgeries to separate Siamese twins joined together either at the abdomen, sternum, or the hip at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Many a time, we hear of such surgeries taking place in major hospitals around the world and we marvel at them not knowing we have equally good brains in our country working on the quiet.

The first female Paediatric Surgeon in Ghana, Professor Hesse, has many other envious firsts to her credit in her career as a medical doctor. She was the first female surgeon to have qualified from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

She is the one who first mooted the idea of a Well-Woman's clinic in Ghana.

Together with some group of female doctors, the first-ever such clinic in Ghana opened in Korle Bu where women could go and have free checks on their health status including cervical smear tests to detect early cervical cancer, a disease which, regrettably, continues to take the lives of thousands of women yet its early detection can save many.

She was the first-ever female to have served as Honorary Secretary in the history of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA).

She was the first female to have been appointed as Head of the Department of Surgery at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. She is currently the Director of Medical Affairs at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Again, the first woman to have ever occupied that Chair in the history of the premier Teaching Hospital. She is a past President of the Society of Ghana Women Medical and Dental Practitioners (SGWMDP).

She has not shied away from responsibilities; neither does she allow her gender to inhibit her in anything she sets her mind to do. Women and children are her passion.

As she takes on an international leadership position in Medicine, Professor Afua Hesse has outlined the challenges that face women Doctors the world over and which are key to her personally.

These challenges are three fold; maternal mortality, child mortality and medical women in leadership.

In the area of maternal mortality, Professor Hesse bemoans as needless, the estimated number of 1,000 women dying at every 100,000 live births. She insists that no woman should die in the process of giving life to another human being.

According to her, even though governments of the world have signed on to beautiful declarations affirming the right to life, they remain mere statistics.

She made reference to the very latest declaration being the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She wondered how many governments had indeed followed through their commitments with actions at a time when simple cost-effective measures such as drugs to prevent post partum haemorrhage and ensuring access and availability to a full range of contraceptives were a far cry.

On child mortality, Professor Afua Hesse is of the opinion that even though the effort to reduce prenatal and infant mortality has been relatively successful, there still remains a lot to be done.

She believes that the global figure of 3.6 million newborn deaths per year is a verifiable public health epidemic that must be dealt with.

Talking about leadership in the world of medical women, Professor Hesse believes that the voices of women in Medicine are not heard loudly enough as compared to say that of women Lawyers and Activists who are rather talking about women's health.

If for nothing at all, women doctors should be at the forefront championing the health of women, adding that “The time to champion their cause is now”.

Professor Afua Hesse is a true example for potential women who are not coming out because they think this is a world of men, dictated by men and ruled by men.

Her hard work, determination and the energy to make a difference continues to shine in her. She is a clear case study and the type of role model that our young women should be encouraged to emulate.

We need many more like her not only in the medical field but across all spheres of life. While we wave our handkerchiefs to her and join hands to celebrate her inspiring achievements, Reality Zone congratulates Professor Afua Hesse on her recent feat in the leadership position as President of the world Association of Women Doctors.

The big question is, do we recognise our people enough in this country?