Overview
The Ghana Armed Forces Health Service (GAFHS) engages in research activities aimed primarily at improving troop health, health of Defence Civilian Staff, health of personnel dependents and health of the general public. These researches are conducted through system-initiated efforts or through collaborations with external partners.
Both individual and collaborative research are sanctioned by the Military High Command after clearance by the 37 Military Hospital Institutional Review Board. The service also collaborates with the Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service on many research projects. Research results are leveraged to inform policies that are expected to improve troop health and public health.
Research Scope
Areas of research the service has been involved in are:
- Acute Febrile IllnessesÂ
- Aetiology
- Antimicrobial Resistance
- Arboviral Infections
- Avian Influenza
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Child Health
- Clinical Trial of a Diagnostic Test Kit
- Diabetes
- Disease Burden and Risk Factor Studies
- Emerging and Re-emerging Infections Studies
- ESKAPE Studies
- Head and Neck
- HIV/AIDS
- Infection Prevention and Control
- Influenza-like Illnesses
- Mental and Psychological Health
- Mosquito surveillance
- Nosocomial infections
- Oncology
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Sickle cell Disease
- Tick-borne Infections
- Urology
- Vaccine Efficacy Studies (COVID-19)
- Viral Hepatitis
The service also organizes an Annual Scientific Conference which gives researchers (both within and without) the opportunity to present their work to the scientific community and the general public. The scientific conference is held in October of each year. Researchers are also granted the opportunity to present their work at international conferences and symposia organised by partner militaries and other collaborating institutions. Most of these works have been published in peer reviewed journals