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Bridging borders through excellence: Ghanaian students visit Malta to engage with public health community

As part of its ongoing commitment to supporting developing countries, the University of Malta through its Department of Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery has partnered with local NGO HopeXchange to bring over to Malta a group of Ghanaian students to engage with the public health community. 

Akosua Amoateng, Adoma Odame and Eunice Enty are currently in Malta for an Orientation Visit as they are completing their first year of studies towards a MSc degree in Public Health. 

The students, currently in senior professional and management positions at the HopeXchange Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, are beneficiaries of this opportunity, supported by several public entities in Malta, including the Deputy Prime Minister, the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Tourism and the Ministry of Health and Active Ageing.

 is a Malta-based international NGO committed to strengthening healthcare systems and advancing medical education in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2017, the NGO has been investing into a medical centre in Kumasi in Ghana, in a bid to address the health needs of the Ghanaian population. 

By connecting students with international academic institutions like the University of Malta, HopeXchange is helping to bridge educational gaps and fostering meaningful cross-cultural learning experiences that are essential to global health development.

Ms Stefania Agius Fabri, Director of the International Office at the University, spoke about the University’s work in terms of educating and training students in direct alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. She referred to the work and the support provided by the International Office and the successful partnerships with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Tourism that have led to extensive support for developing countries. Ms Agius Fabri said: “Despite our size and limitations, we are committed to working collaboratively and sustainably”, right before emphasising the importance of building meaningful partnerships that prioritise long-term impact and mutual growth.

As was also previously announced, the UM’s Department of Public Health, which has been running a successful biannual MSc in Public Health for almost three decades, and has attracted 106 graduates (as at early 2025), had piloted this project and after 10 health professionals successfully completed their respective study modules, it engaged the Faculty in offering the full MSc in Public Health programme to a small number of health professionals in Ghana.

In this manner, the University is leveraging its own resources to contribute meaningfully to developing countries, engaging in teaching exchanges, collaborative initiatives, and capacity-building efforts - with the added advantage of exposing its local students to a reciprocal learning environment and a more global viewpoint on public health matters.

The three students are also getting the opportunity to present their experiences at the Inaugural Global Health Initiatives Summit themed "Harnessing Data and Multilateral Collaborations to Advance Population Health", held on Thursday, 31 July and Friday 1 August in Malta. 

Throughout this summit, they were able to engage with the local public health community as well as network with global health experts from across the globe. They shall also be joined by three medical students from the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, who are currently completing the first-ever study abroad programme for UCF-COM students in Malta. They presented work done on their specific projects here in Malta, completed as part of the research skills training received in Malta.

Prof. Neville Calleja, Head of the Department of Public Health within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, highlighted that online teaching is not a novel concept for the Faculty or the University. “During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University transitioned to remote learning: a sudden yet successful shift. We took the opportunity to pilot this project with 10 health professionals from Ghana who followed two of the MSc Public Health modules online, together with the local students. The success of this experience encouraged us to move to the next step of delivering an entire course in an online or hybrid manner. This has indeed been a glass ceiling for our teaching model, and breaking it allows us to explore potential new markets.”