Our mission is to strengthen West Africa’s public health institutional and systems capability and provide knowledge to achieve better quality health coverage and outcomes for all.

Read our story

Our founding

The Institute was conceptualised in 2008 as an innovative investment in regional nonstate public health space to change the dearth of public health workforce and leadership programmes, and grow a sufficiently large, committed, well-prepared health workforce as the ankh to respond to our daily public health challenges, weakened public health functions and weak health systems through research, training and programme implementation. Towards reversing the significant human resource gap, a multidisciplinary professionalising scheme and professional development was in-built within the structure of the Institute through the creation of a robust Academy of Public Health.

Growth & beyond

Towards actualising the vision of the Institute, its founder Dr Francis Ohanyido, has always promoted the idea of broad-based action-oriented partnerships across public and private sector, donors and development sectors, and with other nonprofit public health entities and public health institutions across the world. The Institute commenced its early activities in 2015 with activation of the Academy and some components of its programme.