In a recent initiative to strengthen Ghana’s health system, professionals from various sectors within the health industry, including animal and environmental experts, have undergone a comprehensive training program.
The program, facilitated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Center for Disease Control, aimed to enhance the capacity of these personnel to effectively respond to any potential health emergencies that may arise in the future.
The training program was designed to equip health professionals with the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to handle a wide range of emergency situations. By providing specialized training, the WHO and Africa CDC sought to ensure that Ghana’s health system is well-prepared and capable of effectively managing any health crisis.
This strategic approach will enable the country to further enhance its healthcare infrastructure and ensure that it is equipped to handle any potential health threats in the future.
At the scoping mission, the WHO representative to Ghana, Professor Francis Kasolo, said although Ghana was credited to have responded well to The Covid 19 pandemic and other Outbreaks, they wanted it to be a model country in terms of health emergencies.
“Ghana has so much capacity to share with others, but how sustainable is the capacity?
“Ghana must have sustainable capacity across the different sectors to respond to any health emergency that will come and that capacity should be shared not only with your neighbours but the whole continent,” Prof. Kasolo said.
“What is it that African countries can do to effectively manage health emergencies that occur?
We need to be prepared and to be prepared means that all the elements that are needed for us to respond to health emergencies are in place,” he said.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said Ghana had had to go through many health emergencies the past few years, and these included the COVID-19 pandemic, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever, Marburg and Monkey Pox, but in all these, the country’s health system was able to contain them.
He, therefore, expressed gratitude that WHO had recognised these achievements, adding that the country hoped to learn more and also improve on its capacity in terms of responding to health emergencies.
He pointed out that there were other non-health hazards that needed to be dealt with in the country and these included road traffic accidents and floods.
The Presidential Advisor on COVID-19, Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, pointed out that it was important for all to recognise that no two crises were the same and therefore as they planned for the future, they must think outside the box so that they would be better prepared should any health emergency occur.
