PROFESSOR ELVIS TARKANG DELIVERS HIS INAUGURAL LECTURE

Professor Elvis Tarkang, Dean of International Programmes of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) delivered his Inaugural Lecture on the theme ‘Developing Tailored Interventions Embedded in Best Evidence and Theory to end AIDS by 2030 in Ghana’ on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at the University’s Cedi Auditorium, Sokode-Lokoe, Ho, Ghana. 
An Inaugural Lecture is an opportunity for newly promoted or appointed Professors to inform colleagues in the University and the general public, about their research career so far and update colleagues on their current and future research directions. 

On June 9, 2021 the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) facilitated the adoption of a Fast Track strategy by United Nations Member States to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030, termed 95-95-95 targets. Professor Tarkang, a Professor of Health Promotion, in his lecture said despite efforts by United Nations AIDS Commission to end AIDS by 2030, HIV/AIDS remained a major public health challenge especially in sub-Saharan Africa and highlighted the slow progress so far towards achieving the 95-95-95 targets. He indicated that according to the 2024 Ghana AIDS report, 68 percent of infected persons were aware of their HIV status, 47 percent receive Antiretroviral drugs (ARD) and 42 percent were able to achieve viral suppression. He said these results demonstrate a gap in the treatment cascade which would negatively impact the achievement of the epidemic control and ending AIDS by 2030. He therefore called for intensified efforts across testing, treatment initiation and viral suppression. 

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Professor Tarkang added that the most successful health promotion programmes and initiatives are based on psychological and contextual determinants of health-related behaviours which include health behaviours, targeted individuals, factors that influence behaviour and the context in which they occur.  The Lecturer declared that interventions grounded in best evidence and theory that combat public stigma, self-stigma, structural stigma and health practitioner stigma are more likely to produce positive outcomes. He said as Africans with deep sense of social interdependence there is the need to employ the Ubuntu concept which promotes interconnectedness, collectivism, compassion and empathy in combating the HIV/AIDS menace. 

Professor Tarkang recounted his journey in academia and acknowledged his family and UHAS Management members, both past and present, especially the founding UHAS Vice Chancellor - Emeritus Professor Fred Newton Binka, the Immediate Past Vice Chancellor - Professor John Gyapong and the current Vice Chancellor - Professor Lydia Aziato, for their unwavering support.
The Chairperson and Vice Chancellor, Professor Lydia Aziato in her address underscored the importance of psychosocial and contextual determinants in battling major public health challenges like HIV/AIDS. Professor Aziato applauded the Lecturer and entreated other faculty to emulate him by collaborating within their respective disciplines, both locally and globally. She noted that the Ubuntu concept finds space in the ethos of UHAS in providing Service and Care. 
In attendance were traditional leaders, researchers and policy-makers in the HIV/AID space, the Registrar - Ms. Yaa Amankwaa Opuni, Deans, Directors, faculty, staff UHAS students, students from second circle institutions in Ho township and its environs, healthcare practitioners and families of the Lecturer.  

An exhibition of the scholarly works of the Lecturer was on display from Monday, November 17 to Thursday, November 20, 2025.  
The Lecturer, Professor Elvis Tarkang, happened to be the first wholly ‘baked’ full Professor of UHAS. He is a Cameroonian who was appointed a Lecturer in 2014 and rose through the ranks from Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and then a full Professor in 2025.  This shows UHAS living up to its mandate of inclusivity, cultural diversity and internationalization, establishing a conducive work environment where staff are supported to strive in their chosen fields regardless of their nationality, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.