Ghana To Receive Financial And Material Support From WAHO To Fight Covid-19

Ghana is set to receive financial as well as material support from the West African Health Organization (WAHO) as assistance for the fight against the Coronavirus (Covid-19).

WAHO has been designated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as the highest authority to lead the coordination, collaboration and communication in the region with regards to Covid-19 pandemic.

As of Tuesday, March 31, 2020, a total of 1,077 new confirmed cases and 31 deaths had been reported across all 15 Member States. In Ghana, the number of confirmed cases stands at 195 as of Wednesday, April 1, 2020.

While the country continue to mobilize funds for the purchase of the necessary tools to help in the fight against the spread of the disease, WAHO has confirmed that help is on the way.

“The West African Health Organization, WAHO has distributed over 30,000 diagnostic test kits to the 15 ECOWAS Member States and these were the first testing kits received by most of our countries, and we are also currently distributing 50,000 specimen transportation kits, 10,000 personal protective equipment (PPE), and some medications to Member States”, a statement from WAHO has assured.

It added, “Many States have received their allocation of diagnostic kits, but all the other support are expected to be delivered to the countries by DHL between 30 March and 7 April. We have placed orders for more diagnostic test kits and PPEs which we expect to arrive within the next 2 weeks. In addition, we are sourcing for ventilators which are equipment for supporting the breathing of severely ill patients in hospitals to distribute to countries. All these efforts are to supplement what individual countries are doing by themselves.

Other key actions WAHO is taking to fight the Covid-19 pandemic is the development of Operational Guides for the fight against Covid-19 pandemic in the ECOWAS region; and an online training for healthcare workers on the use of these guides. The online training starts in the week of 6-12 April 2020.