Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
Program
Definitions:
 The Program: The West African Health Informatics Fellowship Program
(WAHIFP)
 Program Faculty: Faculty recruited by the Program from across the West
African sub-region with the specific purpose of providing training and mentorship
of Fellows.
 Program Fellows: Beneficiaries of training grants undergoing post-graduate
training across the West African sub-region.
 Program Board/The Board: The Advisory Board of WAHIFP
 Members: This includes all persons involved in the activities of WAHIFP. This
includes. Fellows, Faculty, Executive Board and Advisory Board members.
CHAPTER I
Name, Headquarters, Purpose
Article 1
A charitable organization in the sense of Article xx of the Ghanaian Civil Code is hereby
created under the name of West African Health Informatics Fellowship (herein after
referred to as “WAHIFP” or “The Program”). WAHIFP shall be an independent body
operating on a not-for-profit basis and not aligned with any particular political party or
religion.
WAHIFP shall be headquartered in Accra, Ghana.
Article 2
WAHIFP’s purpose shall be to promote sub-regional eHealth activities – particularly
telemedicine, mobile-health and associated fields – including research, development,
practical applications and initial and supplementary training. Training is provided by
means of a Fellowship Program where funding is provided to support various programs
aimed at building health informatics capacity in the sub-region.
Article 3
To achieve its purpose, WAHIFP may, in particular:
 support cooperation between non-governmental organizations on the one hand and
governmental and non-governmental institutions on the other
 support national telemedicine and eHealth organizations
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
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promote the cause of telemedicine and eHealth within the country, as well as with
international institutions or organizations
contribute to the dissemination and exchange of knowledge, information and
technologies relating to eHealth applications
promote initial and supplementary theoretical and practical training in the field of
telemedicine mhealth and eHealth, including its applications throughout the health
sector regardless of professional or geographical limits
support daily activities relating to eHealth research and development and its
application
bring together eHealth users, scientists and researchers and sponsors, advisers and
manufacturers and distributors and their scientific personnel
promote the formulation and publication of rules for good practice and also
guidelines and information on such practice
support activities relating to the establishment of appropriate legal and regulatory
frameworks for telemedicine and eHealth applications.
CHAPTER II
Membership
Article 4
The society shall consist of institutional members (institutions), non-governmental
institutions (NGOs) corporate members (corporates) from within the West African subregion and beyond.
Institutional members shall be not-for-profit governmental and non-governmental
institutions such as universities, clinics, hospitals, healthcare training institutions,
research institutes and their sponsoring organizations.
Corporate members shall be commercial organizations such as manufacturers, distributors
and service providers in the field of eHealth.
There individual membership. This includes:
1. Members of the Advisory Board (including Honorary Members)
2. Fellows and Premium Candidates
3. WAHIFP Faculty
Membership of the Advisory Board is by invitation only. This includes Honorary
Membership. Tenure on the Advisory Board is for two years. It is renewable with no limit
on the number of terms served for as long as the Executive Committee deems it fit to
consider an extension to such tenure.
The Executive Committee of the WAHIFP shall accept and classify members in
accordance with its own fair judgment. Appointment to the Advisory Board is by
invitation only
The Executive Committee shall rule on the exclusion of a member of the Advisory Board.
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
In case of good cause for an exclusion relating to the behavior or character of a member,
the Executive Committee shall rule on the exclusion.
CHAPTER III
Organs Of WAHIFP
Article 5
The organs of the association shall be:
a) The Executive Committee
b) The Advisory Board without restriction on where they live or work
Article 6
The ordinary General Assembly shall be held once a year. Extraordinary General
Assemblies may be convened by the Executive Committee or if a fifth of the members
request this whilst specifying their purposes for doing so. The Executive Committee shall
issue written invitations to attend the General Assembly with at least ?60 days’ notice and
indicating the General Assembly’s agenda.
The Executive Committee shall be notified in writing at least ?30 days prior to a General
Assembly of motions submitted by members on which the General Assembly is to vote.
Members unable to attend may also vote on motions by means of a suitable form of
telecommunication. They may cast their votes by telephone, facsimile, email or other
suitable means. The meeting’s chairperson must take into account all votes for which
there is no reasonable doubt as to the identity of the sender.
At least two-thirds of the individual members’ votes shall be required in order to amend
the statutes of the society.
Article 7
Executive Committee Structure
Each member of the Executive Committee shall have one vote. The Executive Committee
shall appoint from amongst its members:
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A president
A Program Coordinator
A Deputy Program Coordinator,
Academic Programs Lead
A treasurer
It will also appoint further officers if it considers these necessary. The Executive
Committee shall indicate competences and responsibilities whilst making these
appointments. The Executive Committee shall formulate rules of procedure for itself. The
Executive Committee shall take key decisions in a collegiate organ.
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
The Executive Committee may invite individuals as co-opted Executive Committee
members by virtue of their skills and expertise in the field of eHealth.
Co-opted members have no voting right in the Executive Committee meetings.
Article 9
The Executive Committee shall be responsible for conducting all such business of
WAHIFP as is not assigned to another organ in accordance with these statutes. In
particular, it shall be responsible for implementing the Program’s purpose and associated
financial and strategic decisions and activities. It shall notify the members of these in an
appropriate manner and carry out appropriate public relations activities. The Executive
Committee may establish the following and other committees.
 Projects Committee
 Finance & Accounting
 Academic Affairs/ Educational Committee
The Program Coordinator has overall responsibility for the smooth day-to-day running of
WAHIFP. He may delegate some responsibilities to other committee members as
appropriate. The Executive Committee shall, as a rule, organize an international scientific
conference once a year. WAHIFP commits itself to organize or co-organize, once a year,
an event specifically directed to the practical applications in the field of eHealth. The
Executive Committee shall be responsible for conducting this activity.
The Executive Committee shall also establish a list of WAHIFP supported events during a
working year, which will be promoted as such on its website and through its newsletters.
Article 10
An advisory Board of up to 20 members consisting of prominent individuals shall be
appointed to support and guide the WAHIFP as well as resolve difficult conflicts arising.
They shall only have an advisory role and have no voting rights
CHAPTER IV Fellows & Fellowships
Guiding Principles:
1. The Fellowship Program has the potential of attracting academics seeking
positions, who will want to fill various posts and eventually converting the
Program a systematized tyrannical and monstrous regime that will stifle the
aspirations of young Fellows and defeat the objectives of the. It is thereof
important to protect it from such risks. The Program will therefore be put in the
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
checks and balances to protect the young careers of Fellows. It will be run ‘by the
fellows for the fellows’. Transparency will be encouraged at every level.
Qualification and selection should be by merit and not ‘whom you know’.
2. Emphasis will be on supporting fellows to complete their training and not allow
them to be frustrated by people with vested interests in Fellows not graduating. It
is very common in African universities to have PhD students still struggling to
finish, seven years after starting full-time PhD programs meant to last for 4yeays.
In the end some of them get frustrated and drop out.
3. But in West Africa, the need for health informaticians is such that large numbers
are needed in various aspects of health informatics to tackle the various problems.
Therefore the Fellowship Program will be run along the lines of a competitive
market, where the Program Faculty provide the service of training and mentoring
Fellows; and the Program purchases the service provided by the recruited Program
Faculty. It will be the Fellows themselves who will determine on behalf of the
Program whether good value for money is being provided by each individual
Program Faculty.
Article 11
The Fellowship Program and the Fellows will be the main vehicle by which to make use
of the materials made available by the Health Informatics Building Blocks Project
(HIBBs) to introduce health informatics early in the training of doctors, nurses, midwives
and allied health professionals.
Article 12
The Program shall recruit faculty from both industry and academia from within West
Africa and beyond to provide mentorship and training for its Fellows. Provision of
training will be regarded as a service being provided by the Faculty based on their
expertise and experience
Article 13
Prospective faculty will have to apply to the Program to be recruited as Program Faculty.
Appointment as a Program Faculty is not automatic. It will by an interview process by a
panel consisting of:
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A Board Member,
Program Coordinator
One Fellow
One Independent Member appointed by the Board.
The Fellow on the selection panel shall retain a veto over Program Faculty appointments.
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
Qualification for selection for interview or the position of Program Faculty will depend
on 4 references from students from applicants own home faculty, if not training Fellows
but if there are Fellows under his/her care, at least one of them will have to give a
reference.
 Interviews for Program Faculty will be held once in a year.
 Appointment as a Program Faculty will be valid for 5years but renewable based
on the recommendation of Fellows and/or students from one’s own university.
 To encourage collaboration, program faculty can run projects but collaborative
projects will take precedence over single investigator projects in the approval
process
 There is no limit to the number of projects a Program Faculty member will be
involved in. But the value of each individual project will be directly proportional
to the combined total number of fellows being mentored by the investigators.
 Generally, advisory board membership shall be not be open to the Program
Faculty rather unless recommended by the board, they will be represented on the
Program Board by a Rep.
 The Program will run 5-7yr Split-Site PhD Programs in Health Informatics in
collaboration with various local universities within the Program and a consortium
of international institutions led by the Centre for Public Health Informatics,
University of Washington. The membership sub-regional and international
consortia will vary.
 Research institutions within the West African sub-region can apply to participate
in the Program in order to train help train their PhDs.
 Applicants for fellowships will be selected during a selection interview by a panel
chosen by the Board.
 Local institutions can recommend one applicant per annum up a maximum total of
four Fellows over a 10year period. Institutional Fellows i.e. Fellows
recommended to the selection panel will have to have been guaranteed job
throughout the duration of the fellowships to facilitate their training. Their salaries
will be paid by the fellowship as well as other training costs including tuition fees,
conference fees etc.
 Independent applicants can also apply but they will be required to find a mentor
within the sub-region, who already registered as a Program Faculty during the
application process.
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
 Each Fellow will have two supervisors; one international, the other from the local
institution of their mentor.
 Fellows will be attached to teaching hospitals and various local healthcare training
institutions within their localities where they will be involved in training medical,
nursing and allied health professionals. Fellows will be at the forefront for gradual
introduction of health informatics into the curricula of medical schools and
nursing training colleges etc by the supported by the HIBBs Program.
 Funding for the fellowships will automatically lapse after seven years. It is the
responsibility of the Fellow and his supervisors to ensure that various milestones
during the training are attained on time.
CHAPTER V Premium Candidacy & Fellowships (Masters/PhD level)
Article 14
 Occasionally, WAHIFP will advertise for Premium Candidates.
 This will be the case when WAHIFP has identified a need for certain skills which
demands advanced training within the PhD program, or undertaking a project felt
to be particularly promising hence needs support, but there is no funding
available at the time. Premium candidate (after passing the assessment and
selection interview) will be supported by WAHIFP with references etc or have
their names forwarded to potential funding bodies for priority assistance.
 The criteria for premium candidacy during any one round of selection will vary
from time to time and will be determined by the Advisory Board upon
recommendation by the Coordinator.
 ‘Premium Candidacy’ is WAHIFP’s way of saying ‘The sub-region needs this
person and their project badly, but we do not have funding for his/her PhD or
project, we undertake to support them in whatever way possible to find financial
assistance’.
 Premium Candidacy is NOT an undertaking to provide funding. It is an
undertaking to provide recommendations and support for a particular candidate to
seek funding.
 While they are waiting, Premium Candidates will be in front of the queue when
funding becomes available to WAHIFP.
CHAPTER VI Formation Of Health Informatics Departments
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
Article 15
Multi-disciplinary Health Informatics Departments will be supported by the Fellowship
once their are at least two fellows who have successfully passed the viva stage of their
PhD training by which time, students have already been involved in the gradual
introduction of health informatics in their local institutions.
CHAPTER VII Vote of No Confidence
Article 16
A motion for vote of No Confidence shall be passed on any or all members of the
executive, including members of the Advisory Board, by a majority of 70 percent.
Article 17
A No Confidence motion shall be tabled by any member once supported by at least 20
percent of members, on any or all members of the executive is/are deemed unfit to
continue to hold office by reason of incompetence, serious misdemeanours or any other
action that is regarded as posing a threat to the integrity and reputation of WAHIFP.
CHAPTER VIII
National WAHIFP Chapters
Article 18
The association shall support the formation of Chapters in each country in West Africa.
Article 19
National Chapters shall be subject to the provisions of the constitution of WAHIFP.
National Chapters shall only be inaugurated at annual Conférence of WAHIFP.
Article 20
The National Chapters shall consist of at least one Country Representative and executive
commitee members and be semi-autonomous in existence. They CANNOT plan to raise
funds, without express approval from WAHIFP central office. But they can plan and
execute projects with the advice and support of WAHIFP. Their financial accounts shall
be subject to scrutiny by WAHIFP.
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
Article 21
There shall be quarterly reports on the activities of each Chapter to the national executive.
Failure to sent two consecutive quarterly report shall constitute a serious misdemeanour
with an automatic vote of no confidence.
CHAPTER IX Projects And Project Ownership
Article 22
The national Chapters shall be the project owners of the specific project being
implemented by the WAHIFP. It implies the national Chapter shall control the budget for
the specific part of the project in their country and be expected to take the lead in the
implementation. Overall guidance and supervision of the project shall be underaken by
the WAHIFP Project Committee.
The Project Committee shall only run project-budgets in cases where projects uniformly
span national boundaries such that it is impossible to identify the relevant project owner.
CHAPTER X
Finances, Liability, Liquidation
Article 23
WAHIFP shall finance its activities through, donations, and other gifts and from the
proceeds of events.
Article 24
WAHIFP’s financial commitments shall be covered by the Program’s assets alone. The
members’ liability shall be excluded.
Article 25
In the event of WAHIFP being dissolved, following its liquidation its assets shall be
transferred to a charitable organization whose purpose is as close as possible to that of the
WAHIFP. Such a beneficiary charitable organization cannot be one in which any current
member of the Executive Committee is a member.
CHAPTER XI
Conflict Resolution Misdemeanors & Sanctions
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
Article 26
All conflicts whether they arise between members of the association or between the
members and any other organ of the association or between the organs of the association
themselves shall be resolved by an ad-hoc Complaints Committee appointed by the
president.
Where a resolution by the Complaints Committee has not been possible, the matter will
be referred to the Advisory Board of WAHIFP for resolution.
Article 27
Any member or officer of the association shall be subject to sanctions for any
misdemeanor.
A misdemeanor shall be defined as any action which is deemed by the members of the
association to bring the association, any of its organs or any of its members into disrepute.
The nature of such sanctionable acts shall be determined by the members.
Article 28
Establishment of what constitutes a misdemeanor shall be determined by simple majority.
Definition of misdemeanors can happen retrospectively, as an ad hoc decision even after
the action is already committed. All that is required is The Executive Committees’
agreement on the misdemeanor.
Article 29
Sanctions for misdemeanors shall include:
 Either a one-off payment of a fine or loss of earnings the amount to be determined
by the Executive Committee or suspension from office for an appropriate period.
Article 30
Actions attracting automatic sanction shall include:
 Misappropriation of funds belonging to the association including any of its
Chapters
 Soliciting funds on behalf of the association without a mandate or approval of the
Executive Committee
 Using WAHIFP’s assets for personal gain.
 Failure to comprehensively investigate a complaint to the satisfaction of the
complainant.
 Intentionally fabricating a malicious complaint against an Executive Committee or
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship
Advisory Board member.
Article 31
A member who reports a misdemeanor for further investigation can chose to request to
remain anonymous during investigations after identifying him/herself while filing the
complaint. Complete anonymity at the time of complaint invalidates the complaint.
Article 32
Any member shall request, in writing, for further investigations, any action deemed by
that member as constituting a potential misdemeanor that brings or threaten to bring
WAHIFP into disrepute.
Article 33
Misdemeanors of a criminal nature shall be referred to the police for further action
CHAPTER XII Concluding Provision
Article 34
These statutes were approved at the constituent Advisory Board held on xx of yy 2011
Accra.
List of founding members
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Dr Julius Awakame:– Founder/Program Coordinator
Eric Dzade :– Co-founder/ Deputy Program Coordinator
Prof Sherrillynne Fuller:– Co-Founder/Academic Programs Lead
Prof Kayode Odusote – Co-Founder/President
Dr Ime Asangansi:– Co-Founder/Nigeria Representative
Dorothy Gordon:– Co-Founder/Treasurer
Constitution of the West African Health Informatics Fellowship