The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched five strategic documents to help strengthen public health emergency preparedness and response across the country.

The event saw the launch of the strategic National Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) documents and the presentation of a national roadmap for the operationalisation of PHEOC across Ghana.

The five documents launched were the National PHEOC Strategic Plan 2026-2030, National PHEOC Handbook 2026, and National PHEOC Standard Operating Procedures, Volume One.

The others are the National Health Workforce Search and Strategy Plan 2026-2034 and the National Public Health Workforce Search and Management SOP, Volume Two.

The documents were developed through collaboration among the Ministry of Health, GHS, security and emergency services, academia, research institutions, professional bodies, civil society and private-sector stakeholders.

This formed part of efforts by the service to build a more resilient, coordinated and sustainable public health emergency management system.

Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, the Director-General of the GHS, said the launch marked an important step in strengthening Ghana’s national health security.

He said public health emergencies required a unified response from all relevant institutions, adding: “When disease spreads, success is not determined by plans left on the shelf. It is determined by our capacity to act as one unified system.”

Dr Akoriyea said early detection, timely treatment and prompt care were critical to saving lives as Ghana had experienced seasonal outbreaks of meningitis, cholera, typhoid and other diseases.

The Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, he said, would help bridge the gap between data collection and strategic action.

“PHEOC would also connect health agencies, emergency services, laboratories and animal health agencies” he noted, adding that the centre would help provide a platform for coordinated action during public health emergencies.

It would also support the implementation of the International Health Regulations and address gaps identified through joint external evaluations.

He noted that Ghana had learnt important lessons from major disease outbreaks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the focus must now shift from documents to action and from preparedness on paper to readiness in practice.

He called for a functional, connected and sustainable emergency response system.

Dr Lawrence Lartey, Head of the National PHEOC, said the implementation strategy focused on seven key areas.

These include governance and institutionalisation, ICT and public health intelligence, logistics and infrastructure, emergency operations and incident management, workforce capacity, sustainability and multispectral coordination.

Dr Lartey said the strategy would promote the use of integrated dashboards and other digital systems to support timely decision making.

He said logistics and infrastructure would also be strengthened to support rapid deployment during outbreaks and emergencies, adding that trained and skilled workforce was necessary for effective emergency response.

Dr Lartey said the strategy would connect emergency operations at the national, regional, district and community levels, aimed to establish one coordinated system with common standards and shared situational awareness.

He said regular testing, monitoring and after-action reviews would help improve the health system while sustainable financing and accountability would also be critical to the success of the PHEOC.

Domestic financing must be strengthened while partner support was properly aligned, Dr Lartey said, and that “The launch is not the destination. It is a transition to implementation.”