Letitia Obeng

Education

Obeng attended a primary school in Abetifi, Kwahu and middle school in Kibi. Between 1939 and 1943 she had her secondary school education at Achimota School from where she took the London University International Examination to continue her education, on a government scholarship, at the University of Birmingham (1948–1952). She graduated with an honours BSc degree in Zoology. In 1963, studies conducted in Ghana on the parasites of a group of rodents qualified her for an MSc degree from the University of Birmingham. In the early 1960s, Obeng started work on a doctorate degree at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She studied the aquatic stages of the blackfly (Simuliidae) to which belongs the transmitting agent of the parasite, Onchocerca volvulus, which causes river blindness, (Onchocerciasis). At the time, the disease was causing widespread blindness

Career

After obtaining a BSc in the United Kingdom, Obeng returned to Ghana in 1952 and was among the earliest lecturers at the College of Science and Technology, Kumasi, now known as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.[3] She taught zoology to pre-university students till 1959, when she was recruited the first research staff at the newly instituted National Research Council of Ghana[3] (which became the Ghana Academy of Sciences and now is the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of Ghana). Obeng’s interest in helminthology and the life histories of the parasites attracted her to the fascinating world of freshwater ecosystems. In 1964, Obeng built and directed the Institute of Aquatic Biology as one of the Ghana Academy’s Research Institutes. It had overall responsibility for a comprehensive study and attention to the inland water system of Ghana with particular emphasis on the expected ecological changes and environmental impact of the country’s enormous man-made Volta Lake which was forming at the time. In 1966, on behalf of the Ghana Academy, Obeng organized the first International Symposium on Man-made Lakes which also covered the 4 major African man-made Lakes of Nasser, Kariba, Kanji and Volta. She directed research and surveillance on the Volta Lake for a decade. Obeng and the Institute also contributed, among other things, to the Onchocerciasis Control Program of WHO, underway at the time. Following her active participation in the 1972 UN Environment Conference in Stockholm, in 1974 she was first appointed the Senior Global Program Officer for water and soil in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), In 1980, Obeng became the first female Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Africa and UNEP’s Representative to the Africa Region where she actively advocated sound environmental management in development, working closely with the National Environment Officers of Africa in an extensive Sub-Regional Network. Obeng, who is a life fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, was a member of the Africa Leadership Forum. Her well-known major publications include Man-made lakes, the Accra Symposium(Ed); Parasites inside you; The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences: a Historical Perspective; and her Autobiography, A Silent Heritage.

Personal life

Obeng is the daughter the Very Reverend E. V. Asihene, the 13th Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Her mother was Dora Poobea Asihene. She was married to the late George A. Obeng, Lecturer, School of Art at the College of Technology. Obeng is the sister of the late Professor E. V. Asihene, a former pro-vice chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the architect and first dean of the College of Art of the university and a younger sister of the late Madam Theodosia Okoh, who designed the Ghana flag.[4] A keen advocate of the rich culture of her country, Ghana, and against a background of colonialism, Obeng keenly promoted a wide recognition and respect for the Ghanaian woman’s traditional costume as a unique national asset and, internationally, participated actively in many literary activities. Obeng is a widow with 3 children all respected professionals in their own fields: a daughter Dr. Letitia A. Obeng, (retired), a Public health and Water resources Engineer and Manager who became the Director of the Office of the President of the World Bank and later, Chair of the Global Water Partnership; a son, Dr. Ernest A. Obeng, (retired) Scientist and former Olympic standard 100 meters Sprinter, former BBC Staff, and former Director of Broadcasting at the IAAF; and her second son, Dr. Eddie A. Obeng, chemical and /biochemical engineer, business management guru, educator and author, is the founder and learning director of Pentacle, the Virtual Business School. Letitia E. Obeng lives in Ghana.