1. West Africa Health Informatics Fellowship Program Conference Greetings and Best Wishes from the Faculty, Center for Public Health Informatics University of Washington Seattle, Washington, USA Sherrilynne Fuller, Ph.D. Professor, Biomedical and Health Informatics Co-Director – Center for Public Health Informatics

2. The Challenge(s) Health challenges abound The number of health IT interventions are rapidly increasing However, many of these interventions are isolated, and lack scalability and sustainability Lack of trained health ICT professionals Lack of training programs Lack of academically trained individuals to lead training programs and research in HIT solutions Seattle, Washington, USA

3. Opportunity: Academic Foundations for ICT Progress WAHIFP has the opportunity to help initiate the development of an academic training and research program in health informatics in Ghana The conference presents an opportunity to identify strategies for moving forward With the support of the global coalition of individuals, organizations and university programs contributing to the WAHIFP conference, a strong health informatics program can be built in Ghana to support improved health systems throughout the country and beyond. Seattle, Washington, USA

4. Best Wishes!! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in your conference. Best wishes as you embark on this very important work! Seattle, Washington, USA