The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of communities as foundational bedrock for dealing with public health emergencies. Countries need to regularly assess their operational readiness of preparedness activities, especially at the community level to detect and respond to outbreaks of epidemic and pandemic potential more effectively.
Community Readiness Simulation Exercise
In Ghana, a three-day community readiness simulation exercise was held to test communities’ preparedness and emergency procedures and response plans.
It was co-organized by the UK-PHRST alongside several partners:
- Ministry of Health, Ghana
- World Health Organization
The exercise, the first to be conducted in Ghana, brought together 65 participants from three communities across two districts in the Eastern Region alongside stakeholders from health, local government, disaster management, animal and environment sectors.
Exercise aim
It was aimed at enabling stakeholders to identify strengths, gaps and reflect on priorities that will help strengthens communities’ readiness, working with the health workforce to detect, notify and respond to public health threats before they escalate.
Exercise highlights
Participants were taken through a series of scenarios designed to assess community readiness to possible health outbreaks.
The outcome will provide useful information to inform the WHO Community Readiness Checklist, including transferable lessons for other communities and countries.
| Dr Claire Bayntun, UK-PHRST Head of Capacity Strengthening said: “We are delighted to be part of this exciting collaboration between the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health in Ghana and other partners. We have contributed our technical expertise to this tabletop simulation exercise which will ultimately help local communities be better prepared for outbreaks in the future. The outcome of this exercise will not only benefit Ghana - the learnings will also be relevant for the public health responses for communities in many other countries." |