SEND Ghana urges gov’t to adequately invest in epidemics in the country
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SEND GHANA, Mr. Siapha Kamara has urged government to set aside an emergency response fund and invest adequately in the said fund to help address public health challenges particularly epidemics.
He said the country needs such funds to safeguard the citizenry health and their wellbeing in the outbreak of epidemic and explained that “if government prioritise the initiative the country will not rely on donor support”.
Mr. Siapha Kamara made the call at a national stakeholders dialogue on epidemics preparedness and response financing in Accra organized by SEND GHANA in collaboration with Global Health Advocacy Incubator.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, the government must prepare well towards epidemics especially since the country has achieved its middle income status thus it is mandatory that the public be sensitized on outbreak of epidemics in collaboration with stakeholders in the health value chain.
He however urged government to allocate more funding in the health infrastructure as well as build the capacities of health officials in relations to epidemic preparedness and also put in place measures to respond to challenges associated with epidemic to protect the citizenry.
The Chief Executive Officer called for legal reforms to identify gaps and challenges to achieve the purpose of the programme and make it a reality, saying funding in that regard have been quite slow.
Mr. Siapha Kamara commended the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for coordinating activities of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and supporting epidemic related programmes to enable government step up its funding towards such project.
For his part, the Country Coordinator for Global Health Advocacy Incubator, Mr Stephen Atasige called on government to roll out initiatives to make funding available to quickly respond and address epidemics since it cannot be predicted.
He however challenged stakeholders to collectively work together to enable the country work towards achieving its mandate to manage epidemic challenges and thus expressed his gratitude to all for their tireless effort to step up the advocacy programmes on epidemic preparedness and response financing.
The Municipal Director of Health, Dr. Duut Bedina urged players in the health sector and other stakeholders in the epidemic value chain and intensify networks to detect early warning to address it for the protection of lives as well as the economy.
Source: Ben LARYEA/johnawuniktv@gmail.com
