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The Ministry of Health (MoH) will coordinate several investigations that are being carried out by public universities and laboratories to inform the next line of action in the treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic to stop any second wave of the pandemic in the bud.
To this end, it has held a closed-door round table with heads of all public universities and research institutions to deliberate on how to commercialize the findings of the research carried out so far.
Addressing a short ceremony before the roundtable in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, said that one area that had been identified was how the Ministry of Health could work with universities and research institutions to enable Ghana to benefit symbiotically from the research being carried out in these institutions.
“I consider this meeting to be a round table for the exchange of experiences that will help to make decisions to avoid the second wave if it becomes a reality,” he said.
He said the meeting was aimed at finding ways that stakeholders could collaborate and work together for the good of our country and dubbed the meeting: ‘Bringing the academic gowns to town’ for the good of our shared humanity.
“How do we coordinate those pieces of information to support the response? Or simply, how can the ‘academic gowns get to the city’? Fortunately, I was informed that several investigations have been carried out on this new virus and we at the Ministry of Health must know the findings and recommendations to help make informed decisions at the highest level.
“While we debate the use of face masks and why people do not adhere to them and a possible vaccine deployment, formative studies will be needed to understand the acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine, community perceptions, concerns and concerns. reliable sources of information “. he said.
Vaccine communication / adherence
Mr. Agyemang-Manu said that as the international community and the country worked to develop a vaccine to help eradicate the global pandemic, the research findings should inform the design of communication plans and messages that could be implemented in preparation for the introduction of COVID-19. vaccine.
“I want to thank everyone for taking advantage of this meeting. Since around 10 p.m. on that fateful Thursday, March 12, 2020, when I had the arduous task of announcing the two index cases of COVID-19 in Ghana, our lives have never been the same.
“Ghana’s case history on responding to COVID-19 appears to be doing well in containing the virus until a few days ago, when infections appear to be increasing. Our response had been based solely on the three “Ts”: test, trace and treat, and we never took that for granted. The number of new infections reached 25, but as of November 9, 198 new cases had been announced, with more than 1,156 active cases, ”he said.
He reiterated the national call to the public to strictly adhere to the safety protocols of COVID-19, which had been identified as the only prevention and control mechanism in the absence of a vaccine and a cure.
“Let’s continue to wash our hands with soap under clean running water for at least 20 seconds. We should also absorb the habit of sanitizing our hands frequently with at least 70% alcohol-based hand sanitizer; sneezing, coughing and speaking in front of masks, especially in public, adhere to social distancing, among all other protocols, ”he said.
The Health Minister said that the effectiveness of the security protocols was in the majority of the population, making victory against COVID-19 a shared responsibility.
Academy
The President of the Vice Chancellors of Ghana (V-CG) and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Professor John Gyapong, said that as academics they appreciated the opportunity to support with research because it facilitated them ‘ take the dress to town. ‘
He said that since the virus arrived in the country in March 2020, universities had been at the forefront of the fight against it.
“The story of Ghana’s fight against the pandemic cannot be told without reference to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR) and, more recently, UHAS.
“Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that the NMIMR and the KCCR are part of the University of Ghana (UG) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), respectively,” he said.
Professor Gyapong said that recent publications from UG’s West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) on characterizing virus and antibody levels in the community were also very remarkable.
He said that the collaboration between the Presidency, the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, primarily from universities, and the GHS in developing predictive models for the pandemic in Ghana was also very instructive.
“That is why we are very happy to contribute our quota to this very important national agenda and, therefore, we applaud the Ministry of Health for this initiative. We are hopeful that this initiative will be backed by the necessary resources to make it a successful endeavor for Ghana, ”he said.
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