GHS outdoors 5 documents to coordinate public health

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has unveiled five strategic documents and a national roadmap aimed at enhancing the country's readiness, coordination, and response to public health emergencies. The documents include the National Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) Strategic Plan for 2026-2030, the National PHEOC Handbook, National PHEOC Standard Operating Procedures Volume One, the National Public Health Workforce Surge Strategy Plan for 2026, and the National Public Health Workforce Surge Management SOPs Volume Two.

The Director-General of GHS, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, emphasized that the PHEOC would serve as a platform for coordinated public health emergency action, rather than replacing the existing institutions. He urged stakeholders to move from theory to practical implementation, from document preparation to functional readiness. The Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, highlighted the need for multi-sectorial coordination in responding to emergencies such as disease outbreaks, floods, chemical or radiological incidents, and port of entry emergencies.

The launch of these documents marked the beginning of their implementation, with the priority now on making the system functional and establishing a unified national approach to public health emergency management. The documents provide a framework for governance, operations, workforce, and sustainability, connecting national, regional, and district levels in a multi-sectoral manner.

The estimated cost of this five-year strategy is GH¢35.4 million. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Ghana, represented by Dr Danielle Barradas, stated that the documents reflect lessons learned from public health emergencies including COVID-19 and Marburg outbreaks. They aim to shift Ghana from depending on individual experience and institutional memory to a system that is documented, tested, improved, and sustained.

Dr Joseph Asamoah Frimpong of the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) cautioned that the success of these documents would depend on their implementation, as mere documentation would not coordinate emergencies.