GHS Calls For Stronger Leadership And Collaboration To Boost Emergency Preparedness
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has called for stronger connected leadership, effective communication systems and multisectoral collaboration to enhance Ghana’s preparedness and response to public health emergencies.
The call was made at a National Multisector Stakeholder Meeting organised by the National Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (NPHEOC) on the theme “Strengthening Leadership Connectedness, Communications Systems and Multisectoral Collaboration for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response in Ghana,” held at the GHS Headquarters in Accra-Pantang on Thursday, August 20, 2026.
In a welcome address, the Director-General of the GHS reflected on major emergencies that have shaped the country’s emergency architecture.
He recalled the stadium disaster, which exposed significant gaps in Ghana’s emergency response system and contributed to the establishment of the National Ambulance Service, and the Melcom disaster, which showed improved response but also provided lessons for strengthening preparedness.
The Ebola threat, he added, demonstrated that public health emergencies extend beyond the health sector and require coordinated action across institutions.
The Director-General stressed that effective emergency response requires not only strategy and technical competence, but also the right leadership approach.
He urged leaders to recognise when to step back and allow other appropriately qualified actors to lead, describing it as “leading from behind” and noting that humility is an essential quality of effective leadership during emergencies.
The Head of the National Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC), Dr Lawrence Lartey, said the meeting followed a deliberate progression from reflection to action.
Participants first reflected on the experience of COORDEX I and what it revealed about coordination in practice, followed by a stakeholder network analysis to examine relationships, institutional connections and communication pathways underpinning Ghana’s emergency coordination system.
He said the exercise enabled participants to identify where connections were strong, existing bottlenecks, and opportunities to strengthen collaboration and communication among institutions.
The most important outcome, he noted, was the transition from insight to action, with participants identifying practical leadership actions, institutional ownership and follow-up arrangements to strengthen collective preparedness.
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