JCPSLP Vol 20 No 3 November 2018

Nutrition, swallowing, mealtimes: Recipes for success

Invited reflection and report From Ghana to Australia: Reflections on the benefits of an international visit and professional networking Josephine Ohenewa Bampoe

Services for people with communication disability in Majority World countries are limited. The need for such services seems to be gaining much attention in some Majority World countries such as Ghana. The University of Ghana commenced its Master of Science in Speech & Language Pathology program in 2016. I received Speech Pathology Australia’s grant for Majority World Countries and Developing Communities. This paper reports on the benefits of the visit I undertook to Australia in May 2018 and reflects on the value of building global professional networks for improving rehabilitation services. C ommunication is a fundamental human right (McEwin & Saantow, 2018). Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” (United Nations, 1948). Habilitation and rehabilitation, hereafter referred to as rehabilitation, offer people with communication disability (PWCD) the opportunity to maximise their communication potential and to enable communication access for all. The United Nations Convention of Rights for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006) clearly delineates the right of people with disabilities to access rehabilitation services. The World Health Organization, through reports such as the World Report on Disability (World Bank & World Health Organization, 2011) and the Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021 (World Health Organization, 2015), promotes the development of rehabilitation services for people with disability throughout the world. Recent initiatives such as the International Communication Project are beginning to engage influencers and policy-makers at high levels globally to build awareness and advocate for developments in rehabilitation for PWCD. Despite the need for governments to “organize, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programs” (Article 26; United Nations, 2006), rehabilitation services in Majority World countries are often extremely limited (Wylie, McAlister, Davidson, & Marshall, 2013). Improvement to rehabilitation

for people with communication and swallowing difficulties in the Majority World is urgently needed. About me I am a Ghanaian speech and language pathologist (SLP) and lecturer in the newly established Master of Speech Pathology program at the University of Ghana. There is a lack of services for children and adults with communication disability in Ghana and therefore our program aims to build the workforce of speech and language pathologists in the country to enable improvements to rehabilitation services for PWCD. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) has established the Majority World Countries and Developing Communities Grant Scheme, which seeks to support the development of speech and language therapy services in Majority World countries by funding projects such as the establishment of a professional body/associations and attendance at relevant conferences and seminars, internationally or within the applicant’s Majority World country. I was the privileged recipient of one such SPA grant to support my attendance at the 2018 Speech Pathology Australia National Conference,“INSPIRE – “INSpiring Practice Innovation, Research and Engagement” in Adelaide, Australia. I also attended the Asia Pacific Education Collaboration in Speech Language Pathology (APEC–SLP) meeting held prior to the conference which provided me with further opportunity to learn about clinical education and the use of simulation in clinical training, and to meet and develop relationships with speech pathology educators across Australia. While I was in Australia, I also spent 10 days in Perth, observing and engaging with speech pathology colleagues at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and The Autism Association of Western Australia, to learn more about approaches and systems for clinical education and early intervention used in Australia. My context – Ghana The country of Ghana is in the huge, westward bulge of the continent of Africa. It lies just above the equator, sharing its borders with Ivory Coast on the west and Togo on the east. The present population is approximately 27 million people. This is the country that, until 6 March 1957, was known as the Gold Coast, with Accra as its capital. Ghana is a multilingual society and has about eighty languages (Languages of Ghana, n.d.). The language for education is English. International collaborations including remote collaborations and support, visits to other countries, and

KEYWORDS MAJORITY WORLD COUNTRIES PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS SPEECH-

LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN PEER- REVIEWED

Josephine Ohenewa Bampoe

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JCPSLP Volume 20, Number 3 2018

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology