Pressure group OccupyGhana has urged the Ghanaian Government to adequately prepare for a possible outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghana.
In recent weeks, Government has been putting in place some measures to prevent an outbreak of Coronavirus in Ghana.
But OccupyGhana believes more work is needed to be done considering the country’s weak healthcare system.
In a statement, OccupyGhana said “until last week, no cases had been reported from countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, that changed when an Italian traveled to Nigeria from Milan, Italy (the epicenter of the outbreak there) and was found to be positive for a COVID-19 infection.”
It stated that “this shows that it is only a matter of time until cases are seen in Ghana too. With the amount of travel between countries in the sub-region and also between the region and Europe, we in Ghana are bound, sooner or later, to see cases.”
According to the statement, “that is why the country needs to be prepared if an outbreak should occur.”
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) recently released a paper detailing its degree of preparedness.
The efforts to prepare for and deal with a possible outbreak of COVID-19 are being spearheaded by the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) with help from units like a Rapid Response Team (RRT). We commend all involved in those efforts.
” However, we cannot escape the fact that the nation’s health sector is weak and not well-resourced,” says OccupyGhana in the statement.
“This means that our preparedness for epidemics and/or pandemics may not be the most optimal. The 2019 Global Health Security Index, published by Johns Hopkins and the Nuclear Threat Initiative ranked Ghana 105th out of 195 on preparedness for epidemics and pandemics,” it said.
In planning for a possible COVID-19 outbreak, it stated suggested that Ghana considers the following variables:
1 – Surveillance;
2 – Containment;
3 – Prevention;
4 – Testing;
5 – Treatment;
6 – Coordination; and
7 – Finance
BY Melvin Tarlue