Healing a nation: U. grad plans to use public health degree as future member of Ghanaian parliament

SALT LAKE CITY — Gladys Ashitey is planning to run for political office and to boost her campaign, she is asking each resident of Utah — especially Ute fans — to give a dollar.

In fact, she may have already asked you for it, as the 56-year-old medical doctor and recent University of Utah graduate has visited countless religious congregations and befriended hundreds during her two-year stay.

Ashitey is now setting her sights on taking back her former seat as the minister of health in the Ledzokuku Constituency of the Ghanaian parliament. Voting day is at the end of the year, on Dec. 7.

"You people use millions (to campaign) here. About $200,000 will be OK for me," she said. Donations can be made online at www.AshiteyforParliament.com. "Even one dollar will go a long way in Ghana."

Once in office, the ambitious Ashitey hopes to build a private medical school in Ghana, to train more doctors, provide more jobs and not only help keep the local people healthy, but build the country's infrastructure. And just like any politician, she'll continually be looking for donors.

"I have a lot of work to do," she said.

It all stems from things she learned while participating in the university's renowned master's of public health program.

"We have to be role models so that the youth who are growing up will have something to emulate and see what life is all about," Ashitey said. "They need to see how it is possible to use your life to help your neighbor, to help your community, and to help your country."

In addition to attending 10-plus years of graduate and undergraduate school in the United States and the Caribbean, and working almost a decade in a teaching hospital in her hometown of Teshie, the ambitious Ashitey has helped her province gain independence from the larger city of Accra. She has also lobbied Chinese charity groups to build a hospital in the region, which is one of the first government developments the nation has seen in decades.

"If I live here and continue to live here, and look for a job here, my contribution would not be much," she said. "I have to go back."

Ashitey, who didn't know how to use a computer until coming to the U., has been instrumental in getting Dutch and Spanish investors to set up water processing plants on Ghana's southern coast. Water in the country is in short supply and is rationed to residents, she said. The plants would help to desalinate water from the vast Atlantic Ocean, thereby helping the region to flourish.