UN official charges world leadership to adopt preemptive measures against pandemics
Ghana lauded for COVID-19 management
The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator for Ghana, Charles Abani, has rated Ghana as one of the highest in Africa in terms of the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking on Pan Africa TV’s Diplomatic Affairs Program, Mr Abani said Ghana effectively ensured it had put in place measures to contain the virus while adopting a side plan to rebuild the country’s economy from the effects of the pandemic.
“Ghana was one of those countries that developed a plan quickly to contain the virus,” he noted.
He emphasized the need for the world to be vigilant and put in place robust structures that will help tackle similar challenges in the near future.
“What we’ve shown is an ability to be resilient and fast in responding to pandemics. But we must always remain vigilant.
“What we must be consistently working on now is building the resilience of health care systems, building the resilience of supply chain systems so that if the world has to stop again, we are in a better place to support those at the bottom of the pyramid so that their lives do not come to a halt,” said on the programme hosted by Harriet Nartey.
Speaking on the role of the United Nations in Ghana’s management of the pandemic, the Resident Coordinator said “Of course, there was a whole global response but the immediacy of it was finding a way to support Ghana to support their capability or to strengthen its capability to be able to handle the pandemic.”
He added that the UN was able to seamlessly integrate into the government of Ghana’s COVID-19 plan through a system called PCRC.
“With that and our social-economic response plan, we were able to repurpose a lot of money that was here for routine work to focus on the impacts of the pandemic,” he said.
The purpose he noted included extensive healthcare systems support, providing PPEs, supporting distant and remote learning, as well as improving water and sanitation in schools through the coordination of all UN agencies here in Ghana.
Mr Abani further commended Ghana for its vaccination programme which saw the country become the first African country to benefit from the COVAX COVID-19 vaccine facility.
“Let’s recall [that] in the heat of covid-19 and with a lockdown on, Ghana was still able to administer over 5 million vaccines to young babies even then.
“Ghana most probably had one of the most effective systems that would enable it to roll out the covid-19 vaccines,” he said.
United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator for Ghana, Charles Abani