At a glance
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø works with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other partners to build effective public health collaboration and partnerships, which strengthen the country's core public health capabilities: data and surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce and institutions, prevention and response, innovation and research, and policy, communications, and diplomacy.
Overview
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø established an office in Ghana in 2007. ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø Ghana works closely with the Ministry of Health, Government of Ghana (GoG), and partner organizations to detect, prevent, and control infectious disease outbreaks and strengthen the country’s core public health capabilities. These include data and surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce and institutions, prevention and response, innovation and research, and policy, communications, and diplomacy. ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø’s work aims to protect the health of our nations and public health around the world.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø Ghana also works to address the following public health areas:
- Global health security
- HIV
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Malaria
Global health security
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø's global health security efforts in Ghana help strengthen the country's ability to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. These efforts help Ghana reach the goals outlined in the . ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø works with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other partners to provide expertise and assistance across technical focus areas. These include disease surveillance, laboratory systems, workforce development, emergency management, and other critical areas.
Surveillance, laboratory, and public health systems strengthening
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø helps implement indicator- and community-based disease surveillance to strengthen early detection and reporting of priority diseases, conditions, and unusual health events.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supports improvements in laboratory quality and safety. ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supported .
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø and partners developed a national specimen referral policy and referral system in Northern and Greater Accra regions. This system reduced the turnaround time and release of results by 50% for many public health specimens.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø helped establish molecular testing laboratories for two zonal laboratories in the Northern and Western regions. In addition, ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø helped establish genomic sequencing laboratories at the National Public Health and Reference Laboratory and the Genomic and Infectious Disease Laboratory.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supported the operationalization of the National Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) and four regional PHEOCs in the Northern, Ashanti, Western, and Volta regions.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supported establishment of the Tamale Infectious Disease Treatment Center at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern region.
Workforce development
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supports training scientists through the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP). Established in 2008, this program trains epidemiologists to detect, prevent, and control diseases before they become epidemics. FELTP participants learn to gather critical data and turn it into evidence-based action. Ghana has trained over 400 FELTP participants who have conducted more than 100 outbreak investigations, including meningitis, cholera, yellow fever, influenza, measles, rubella, and anthrax.
HIV and TB
As a key implementer of the , ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø works with Ghana to build a sustainable, high-impact national HIV program. This work helps accelerate progress toward (UNAIDS) goals to control the HIV epidemic.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø leads efforts to improve data collection and analysis in testing, treatment, and viral load suppression to inform decision-making.
In addition to helping generate estimates of people living with HIV, ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø helps develop tools and collect data.
Key achievements
- ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø led the implementation of an innovative national system for transporting blood and specimen samples to centralized laboratories for processing.
- ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø partners with the MOH, Ghana Health Service, and the National AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infection Control Program to develop and implement the e-Tracker HIV Module to track progress against HIV and case management services.
- ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supports the Ghana AIDS Commission to develop annual estimates of people living with HIV to inform decision-making.
- ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø provides technical and financial support to the GoG to develop policies that strengthen laboratory systems and services, improve the national HIV testing algorithm, and enhance service delivery.
Malaria
Under the , ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø assigned a resident advisor to support implementation of malaria prevention and control activities in Ghana. Key activities include:
- Providing long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets.
- Providing indoor residual spraying.
- Preventing malaria in pregnancy.
- Improving diagnostics and case management.
In partnership with PMI, Ghana has made significant progress against malaria. Child death rates have fallen and life-saving tools, such as bed nets and preventive treatment for pregnant women, are reaching more people.
Ghana also uses an updated electronic District Health Information Management System, which improves malaria data quality, timely reporting, and completeness.
Key achievements
The malaria case fatality rate for children under the age of five dropped from 14% in 2000 to less than 0.5% in 2016. ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø provided technical support to:
- Monitor the impact of a new, longer-lasting insecticide.
- Develop a national insecticide resistance-monitoring program.
- Create a national insecticide-resistance and entomological database.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø Ghana also collaborated with the Kintampo Center for Diagnostic Excellence in Ghana to support the establishment a WHO-certified national archive of malaria slides for training and quality assurance.
Influenza
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø works with partners in Ghana to help strengthen influenza surveillance and laboratory capacity to prevent, detect, respond, and prepare for influenza threats. Since 2007, ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø has partnered with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), the Ghana Health Service/MOH, and the US Naval Medical Research Unit 3 on influenza surveillance and laboratory activities in the country.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supports the influenza surveillance system to conduct inpatient and outpatient respiratory disease surveillance in 36 health facilities across the country. This surveillance system is used to monitor influenza and other respiratory infections among all age groups. Ghana hosts the ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø Influenza Division regional hub for West Africa. From the West Africa regional hub, ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supports the NMIMR by:
- providing trainings
- conducting technical assistance visits
- providing emergency supplies to increase neighboring countries' capacity to respond to influenza and other respiratory infections of public health importance
Key achievements
- Each of Ghana's 16 regions has at least one influenza sentinel surveillance site.
- Ghana tests over 10,000 samples annually for influenza and SARS-CoV-2, and contributes data for influenza candidate vaccine virus selection.
- The surveillance system detects influenza outbreaks which helps with timely response by the Ghana Health Service.
- An influenza sequencing platform has been established at the Ghana National Influenza Center and it supports regional sequencing trainings.
- Ghana's influenza surveillance system was leveraged for SARS CoV-2 surveillance and was instrumental to the COVID-19 pandemic response.
