PNews-Monrovia: Former Liberia Health Minister, Dr. Bernice T. Dahn has received one of America’s highest public Health honors from the UW University, in the United States of America.

UW school of Public Health is the school of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

According to a dispatch from its recognizes the tremendous service of Dr. Bernice Dahn demonstrated over the years in providing distinctive public health services to Liberia.

UW School of Public Health: “To celebrate the UW School of Public Health’s 50 years of impact, the School is recognizing 50 alumni from around the world who have a demonstrated record of distinguished service and achievement across public health disciplines and settings;”

“These 50 Changemakers of Public Health are leaders, trailblazers, educators, innovators, influencers and health equity heroes that represent just a slice of the School’s community of more than 10,000 alumni worldwide who are addressing some of the most pressing population health issues of our time.”

UW School of Public Health maintained that its honorees amidst pandemic and an unprecedented movement for social and racial justice, some of those changemakers were still  conducting studies to disrupt the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, while others are working with community organizations to change the complex interplay of factors that keep some people from being as healthy as others.

“These alumni have led groundbreaking research to bring an end to the global HIV epidemic, prevent cancers and other chronic diseases, improve worker health and safety, and address gun violence in America;”

“These changemakers are collaborating across sectors to expand access to mental health care, improve maternal and child health, and strengthen health systems. They’re also tackling climate change, tobacco, oral health, substance use and houselessness. Some changemakers are creating new approaches to understand big data and building the statistical foundation needed to make advances, improvements and even breakthroughs in public health and medicine. They’ve started nonprofits, influenced health policy and led nation’s efforts on health, and they’re passing all of this knowledge on to the next generation of public health leaders. ” UW school of Public Health dispatch read.

After Dr. Bernice earned her MPH in the aftermath of a prolonged civil war that decimated Liberia’s health infrastructure and compelled many of its health workers to flee.

Dr. Dahn in the rebuilding Liberia’s post-war health system, .set up as a major goal to spearhead the revitalization of medical, nursing and midwifery schools and established an agency to regulate medicine and health products.

As Deputy Minister for Health Services and Chief Medical Officer for Liberia, Dr. Bernice Dahn was integral in bringing an end to the country’s 2014-15 Ebola outbreak. She developed treatment and infection prevention protocols, organized training, mobilized resources and restored routine health service delivery — critical steps that likely saved thousands of lives. After Ebola, as Minister of Health, she created a seven-year initiative to improve and expand the public health workforce and developed Liberia’s first national cancer control strategy.

Affiliations: Vice President for Health Sciences, University of Liberia; Former Minister of Health for the Republic of Liberia