Dr. Ayagah Bawah Wins Elsevier Atlas Award

Director of Elsevier Foundation, Ms Ylann Schemm making the presentation to Dr. Bawah

A Senior Lecturer at the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), Dr. Bawah Ayaga Agula, has been presented with the Elsevier Atlas Award for the best published article in the month of January 2019.

Dr. Bawah’s article was titled;

“Does the provision of community health services offset the effects of poverty and low maternal educational attainment on childhood mortality? An analysis of the equity effect of the Navrongo experiment in Northern Ghana’’

In a ceremony held on Friday, September 6, 2019, the Director of Elsevier Foundation, Ms Ylann Schemm made the presentation to Dr. Bawah. Ms Schemm noted that the wining article was selected from over 1800 articles submitted, due to the depth and relevance of the research conducted by Dr. Bawah and the resultant impact of his work on communities. Ms Schemm thanked Dr. Bawah for his immense contribution to science and to resolving some of the challenges of society; for which he deserved the prestigious Atlas Award.

The Elsevier Award is given to authors of the best published paper selected from research published across Elsevier’s 3,800 journals hosted at ScienceDirect.

The Award provides the opportunity for recipients to advance their research through networks of journalist and showcase scientific outcomes through wider platforms.

On behalf of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (RID), Rev. Professor Patrick Ayeh-Kumi, Provost of the College of Health Sciences, congratulated Dr. Bawah and RIPS for the Award, and their efforts at making science more relevant to the society.

Rev. Professor Patrick Ayeh-Kumi, Provost of the College of Health Sciences

The Director of the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), Professor Joseph Yaro, on his part indicated that the Institute had worked tirelessly over the years to promote knowledge in the area of population science and its relevance to health and other aspects of humanity. He noted that Dr. Bawah had made significant contributions to this cause, actively contributing to scientific knowledge and advancing the wellbeing of societies. Professor Yaro described Dr. Bawah as a great asset to the Institute and affirmed that the impact of his work on society was invaluable.

Prof. Felix Ankomah Asante who represented the Provost of the College of Humanities congratulated the award winner and thanked representatives of Elsevier for recognising Dr. Bawah’s work.

In accepting the award, Dr. Bawah thanked the Director of Elsevier Foundation, the Pro-VC (RID) and his colleagues for their support. He noted

that the award was the outcome of many years, and countless efforts to resolve social challenges and influence lives positively. He acknowledged his co-authors, particularly Dr. Patrick Assuming of the Business School.

His research examined the empirical basis for a poverty reduction programme focused on community-based primary health care (GHPS initiative). The research showed that:

· Children of uneducated and relatively poor parents experience significantly higher mortality risks than those of the educated and less poor.

· Exposure to community health nursing services mitigates the mortality risk of children with uneducated and relatively poor mothers.

· Survival benefits arise only among children of relatively advantaged households if exposure is limited to only volunteer-provided services.

· Community health nurse approach to community-based health services represents a core health component of poverty reduction programmes.

The occasion presented an opportunity for the Research Performance team (RePs) which is responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and interpreting data on rankings and publications, to explain the relevance of their work in relation to the award.

 Mr Jacob Zuttah during his presentation

In his presentation the RePs team lead, Mr Jacob Zuttah reiterated the importance of publishing in relevant and reputable outlets such as those of Elsevier. He encouraged faculty to aim for publishing in journals indexed in reputable databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. He disclosed that University of Ghana uses SCIVAL to measure the research performance of the University. He gave an overview of the publication output of the various departments in the School of Engineering Sciences.

On Dr. Bawah’s publication profile, Mr. Zutah informed the audience that Dr. Bawah has a Hirsh index (h-index) of 13 and currently had 41 publications in Elsevier’s Scopus. These publications received 849 citations.

A group picture after the ceremony

In his closing remarks, Rev. Professor Ayeh-Kumi expressed appreciation to all for their presence and urged faculty to strive for research excellence in their respective academic disciplines.

Present at the ceremony were Professor Samuel Codjoe and Professor Stephen Kwankye from RIPS