Sam Adjei (16 June 1948 – 7 February 2016) was a leading public health figure in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Biography

Adjei was born in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, which was then part of what was called the Gold Coast Colony. As a child Adjei suffered from polio, which caused him to walk with a limp. He received his early schooling from

Prempeh College Prempeh College is a public secondary boarding school for boys located in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. The school was founded in 1949 by the Asanteman traditional authority, the British Colonial Government, the Metho ...

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

. He received his degree in medicine from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

in 1976. In 1979 he became one of the ten district health officials of Ghana. He later went to the United Kingdom to study for an MSc degree in epidemiology and disease control at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

. In 1983 Adjei was given the new government position of Senior Medical Officer for Public Health. In this position, he developed programmes to combat sexually transmitted diseases as well as leprosy, schistosomiasis, and malaria. In 1990 he undertook to create a system for health research in Ghana. In 2000, he was made Deputy Director General of the

Ghana Health Service The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is a Ghanaian government body established in 1996 as part of the Health Sector Reform of Ghana. The Health Service is under the Ministry of Health. The Health service primarily administrates the health services prov ...

. After retiring from the government in 2007, he founded the Centre for Health and Social Services. Adjei died at

Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) is a public teaching hospital located in the Ablekuma South Metropolitan District in Accra, Ghana. It is the only public tertiary hospital in the southern part of the country. It is a teaching hospital affiliate ...

from cancer in 2016, aged 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adjei, Sam 1948 births 2016 deaths Alumni of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Deaths from cancer in Ghana Ghanaian expatriates in England Ghanaian public health doctors University of Ghana alumni