Professor Francis Kasolo, the Country Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), says community engagement is critical during public health emergencies.
?He said community involvement in preparation and readiness for emergency situations was necessary because it helps them to be?better placed in responding to such emergencies.
?Prof. Kasolo was speaking at the opening of a three-day Community Readiness Tabletop Simulation Exercise in Accra, organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, WHO and the United Kingdom (UK) Public Health Rapid Response Team.
The Tabletop simulation exercise gives Community Members and stakeholders the opportunity to be prepared and equipped with necessary information during outbreaks and the best approach for response.
The WHO Country Director said, that health emergencies start and end in communities, hence, the importance of community involvement in emergencies could not be overemphasized.
?’The capacities and resources must be in place at the Community level
for early detection and containment of health emergencies,’ he added.
?He said many stories had been told on how the lack of involvement of Communities in health emergencies had led to significant loss of lives.
?Prof. Kasolo recounted events in the early days of Ebola in West Africa when the first cases were reported when the Community Members were aware of the epidemic three months before it was officially reported by WHO.?
?’Unfortunately, many lives were lost due to this gap,?therefore, lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic have also amplified the critical role of community members in prevention, preparedness, readiness and response to any type of emergency, regardless of the hazard,’ he added.
Prof. Kasolo said one of the key components of the exercise was to protect Communities and strengthen the local and community emergency coordination mechanisms and capacities for early detection and containment of outbreaks.
Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, Director, of Public Health, Ghana Health Service,?said?Ghana ha
d experienced a number of outbreaks in the past two years in the midst of COVID-19, including Lassa fever, Yellow fever, Marburg virus and Mpox among others.
?He said the need for strong and resilient systems to rapidly detect and respond to events for timely control was key while recognizing the importance and benefits of the exercise.
Globally, Ghana was the first country chosen to undertake the pilot exercise, to help identify and strengthen the gaps in the country’s surveillance system and be better placed in future emergencies.
Dr John Ekow Otoo, Deputy Director of Public Health, Eastern Region Health Directorate,?told the Ghana News Agency that participants were strategically selected from communities within?Kwahu Afram Plains North and Kwahu West Districts of the Eastern Region.
He said: ‘Kwahu Afram Plains North is one of the deprived districts in the region if something should happen, it takes extra effort to get there and have information so if we are to choose just one district, we are better o
ff in setting them up so that they will be able to contain the situation before it gets out of hand.’
Participants included Community volunteers, Assembly Members, Community Health Nurses, Medical Directors, Doctors, Physician Assistants, Disease Control Officers,?District Health Directors, Environmental Health Officers, Veterinary Services and the Red Cross Society among others.?
Source: Ghana News Agency