Dr. Jemima A. Dennis-Antwi

BSN, RN, RM, PHN, MSc, PhD, FWACN, FGCNM

Dr.  Dennis-Antwi is a multi-skilled Ghanaian Health Promotion/Communication Expert, Midwife and Nurse with over 33 years cumulative experience locally and globally; having managed collaborative projects and programmes through public service, development work and independent consultancies in maternal and newborn health/midwifery, nursing, health systems strengthening, health systems administration and research. She has held various leadership positions in collaborative and consultancy roles.

Starting in 1989 as a Nursing Officer at the clinical milieu of Ridge Hospital-Accra. she was seconded to the Health Education Unit of   the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly in 1991    as the first Ghanaian to continue the development of the Kumasi Health Education Unit culminating into a formidable national entity called the National Health Learning Materials Centre of the Ministry of Health.  With a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing with Psychology-Legon-GH; Master’s qualification from University of Edinburgh-UK (1991), she pursued her PhD studies at De Montfort University-Leicester-UK(2003-2008) and branched into international development work serving with organisations such as Partnerships for Transforming Health Systems-Nigeria; American College of Nurse-Midwives-USA; Population Council-Ghana as well as working as a technical resource person, collaborator or consultant to myriad international organisations nationally and globally including the UN (UNFPA Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Libya, ESARO) WHO-Geneva, UNICEF, UN WOMEN), Sick-Kids-Canada, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, World Vision-Ghana, Catholic Relief Services, BASICS-GH-USAID, Jhpiego-GH etc. Overall, she has had professional exposure to over 42 countries worldwide and is a global technical speaker.

Notably, Dr. Dennis-Antwi served on a transcontinental (Africa, Asia, Latin America and Caribbean) programme in collaboration with International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and UNFPA as the Regional Midwives Advisor for Anglophone Africa (2009-2013) for providing technical oversight to 10 African countries and (Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia) and Guyana in midwifery strengthening. Furthermore, she was selected as the Inaugural and Foundational President (2013-2018) and Acting First Rector (2013-2016) of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives (Specialist College with Presidential Accent), where she assiduously led efforts to establish the very successful and much sought-after postgraduate Fellowship College administratively and academically. On completing her term of office in 2018. She served as a long-term International Midwife Consultant for UNFPA- Sierra Leone where she led collaborative efforts for the development of the first ever Strategic Plan in Midwifery and Nursing and Preceptorship Policy for Clinical Competency Building and later documented the “Evolution of Midwifery from the Pre-war situation to present day Sierra Leone in 2020” among other leadership assignments. She also developed the Strategic Nursing and Midwifery Plans/Policies for Ghana and first ever for Zambia and Libya. Her works have been published in peer reviewed journals, bibliographies and grey documents. Her current research work is on “Application of the WHO Framework for Quality Midwifery Education in 5 countries”: A WHO-Geneva Assignment with attachment to Sierra Leone.

Dr. Dennis-Antwi is a multiple award recipient. The most recent (May 2021) being her induction into the MAIDEN Hall of Fame by the Ministry of Health-Ghana for her contribution to midwifery and nursing development locally and internationally and especially for her exemplary and pioneering leadership in the establishment of Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives (GCNM).

Dr. Dennis-Antwi has served as member of Board of Directors of global organisations such as ICM; Tropical Health Education Trust -UK; Ipas -USA and locally with Sickle Cell Foundation-GH; GCNM and Centre for Health Development and Research (CEHDAR). Currently, Dr. Dennis-Antwi also leads as the President and CEO of CEHDAR; a Ghana-based international Non-Profit Organisation with a goal for global health workforce capacity building, systems strengthening, research and advocacy among others.