By Kemo Cham
Sierra Leone’s lead psychiatrist, Dr Abdul Jalloh, has been named among the fourth cohort of the prestigious Global Health Leadership fellowship of the African Union.
Dr Jalloh is among 25 African health professionals selected for the Africa CDC implemented initiative that is designed to enhanced the professional skills of public health leaders on the continent.
Titled, the ‘Kofi Anan Fellowship in Global Health Leadership,’ the programme was launched by the African Union Commission on 25 May 2020 in partnership with the Kofi Annan Foundation, following its approval by the Governing Board of Africa CDC in March 2018. Its aim is to support aspirational public health leaders from the continent in acquiring advanced skills and competencies to strategize, manage and lead public health programmes that will transform public health in Africa.
Selected fellows are senior public health professionals from member states of the African Union, who will contribute to and lead the implementation of a new public health order for Africa. They are in turn expected to mentor and develop the next generation of public health leaders for the continent.
The first cohort of the Fellowship programme was launched on 7th April 2021 and it consisted of a total of 20 fellows from 14 countries.
Jalloh, currently Sierra Leone’s leading psychiatrist, is the pioneer of the reform of the country’s mental health sector, which has seen its only psychiatric hospital transformed from a jail-like facility to a state of the earth center of excellence. Among others, he oversaw the ending of the practice of chaining mental health patients. The Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital in Kissy is also making headway in research, under Jalloh’s leadership.
Stigma, discrimination and resource unavailability are Jalloh’s major obstacles in his ongoing reform efforts, and he hopes to overcome these as part of this fellowship.
“limited resources are significant barriers to accessing mental health care in developing countries, including Sierra Leone, creating a huge treatment gap,” he was quoted saying in the statement unveiling the 2024 cohort of the fellowship.
“My project is to reduce mental health stigma and improve access to care in Sierra Leone,” he added.
The Fellowship is designed to last for 12 months, during which period the fellows get high-level professional development in advanced public health leadership that includes acquiring skills in health diplomacy, change management, influencing policy, among others. They will also be supported by experienced experts in relevant fields from Africa and the diaspora.
Africa CDC is the specialized technical health institution of the African Union. Established in 2016 by the 26th Ordinary Assembly of Heads of State and Government, it was officially lunched one year later.
The agency has the mandate of supporting public health initiatives of Member States and strengthen the capacity of their public health institutions to detect, prevent, control and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats as in the case of Coronavirus and other life threatening diseases.
Africa CDC says the fellows will be trained to acquire advanced skills in leading impactful health initiatives, employing health diplomacy, as well as enhance their ability to develop bold, strategic and achievable goals to propel Africa towards achieving Agenda 2063.
The third cohort of the fellowship graduated in May 2024, bringing to a total of 59 fellows from 27 countries that have graduated since the programme was launched in 2021.
Until now, each cohort has had 20 fellows, with female fellows comprising over 50%.
The number of fellows have been increased by 5 this year, to create room for fellows focusing on mental health leadership.
The 25 finalists were selected from a pool of 6, 000 applicants. Eleven of them this time are female.
Jalloh is one of three fellows from the Mano River Union, alongside fellows from Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire.
