Ghanaian student wins prestigious UN award

A young Ghanaian advocate and student has won a prestigious award at the just ended United Nations Youth Assembly organized in New York at the UN Headquarters.

Mr. Amponsah won the award as result of a project he entered as part of the conference to combat the various mental health challenges facing Ghanaians.

His project, MY HEALTH MY WELLBEING, a not-for profit social campaign against stigmatization of people with mental issues would create a thriving platform for conversations about the all too evaded issues of mental health in the nation.

According to him, he was unsettled about which area to endeavour into while planning for the conference but choose mental health when he realized the sheer disinterest that society had for such matters.

“There were a number of challenges that competed for attention in the beginning but I had to settle on this because it was an area that is not often looked at when we talk about engaging with young people,” he stated.

Gideon who is currently studying the US says it was the knowledge and experience he had back in Ghana as a member of Curious Minds Ghana that gave him the opportunity to win the award.

He was further compelled to give attention to the subject considering the disturbing statistics.

“In Ghana, a country of about 27 million people the World Health Organization records that 650,000 people suffer from severe mental disorders and 2,106,000 people suffer from a moderate to mild disorder. The treatment gap is a 98% of the total population expected to have a mental disorder. But yet, the government invests less than 1% of the health budget into mental health.” he elaborated.

Gideon excelled after the preliminary stages of the application process and qualified as part of the 31 Semi-Finalist. The progressed to the final stage of the competition, out of which he was one of the seven to receive the Fellowship.

The competition is organised by The Resolution Project, a global non-profit Fellowship fostering youth leadership through collaborative social entrepreneurship.

The Resolution Social Venture Challenge is a multi-step competition designed to inspire undergraduate students to propose impactful, socially-responsible projects that address pressing social issues around the world.

To effect his project, Gideon plans to incorporate five with five Senior High Schools in Accra with support from CURIOUS MINDS to create clubs in these schools to commence the campaign.