South Sudan Public Health Institute (SSPHI), a medical college under the national health ministry on Friday graduated its first batch of 46 health officials who studied leadership, data management, and governance.

Among the graduates were director generals at the state ministries of health and officials from the national ministry of health.

Dr. Gordon Angok, the director of the South Sudan Public Health Institute, explained that the training was conceptualized to fill knowledge gaps after an assessment.

“The areas of commitment to work were a problem so we felt obliged that there is a need for us to conduct this first training,” he said. “An assessment was done involving relevant stakeholders from the ministry of health, partners led by Intra Health, University of Juba, and Upper Nile University and partners who contributed included WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and so at the end the curriculum was developed and the training started.”

Dr. Atem Nathan, a participant of the medical fellowship program who is also the director-general for the Primary Health Care at the national health ministry said joined the training to learn.

"I took the initiative to join this training because I felt I had some deficiencies that needed to be corrected,” he said. “I also joined because I have 39 years of experience in the medical field and training is a two-way vehicle. You can give and take and in fact, I have given and I have taken.”

Mary Denis Obat, the director for health education and promotion at South Sudan's health ministry, said the skills she learned in the three months of training have improved her relationship with her subordinates.

"As one of the first cohort, I can testify that what I learned in this training has really shaped me a lot in the way I organize my work in the department, and in a way the relationship between me and my subordinates has improved,” she said. “With the techniques I learned, I was able to resolve problems in my office.”