GHS Launches National PHEOC Strategic Documents To Strengthen Emergency Response

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched a suite of strategic documents and a national roadmap to guide the establishment, governance and phased operationalisation of Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOCs) across the country.

The launch, held at the Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa Conference Centre at the new GHS Headquarters in Pantang, brought together stakeholders from the health and non-health sectors to advance a well-coordinated and effective national public health emergency management system.

In his welcome address delivered on behalf of the Director of the Public Health Division, Deputy Director for Disease Control, Dr Kwame Amponsa Achiano, emphasised that modern public health crises ranging from infectious disease outbreaks and floods to chemical hazards and points-of-entry threats extend beyond health sector boundaries to impact national security, trade, transportation and the broader economy.

He said managing such emergencies requires an all-inclusive, multi-sectoral approach anchored on connected leadership, timely information sharing, clear accountability and collective action, adding that the newly unveiled policy suite provides a standardised blueprint for governance and coordination, with focus now shifting from preparedness on paper to functional readiness in practice.

Delivering the keynote address and officially launching the documents, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service commended the PHEOC team for more than eight years of dedicated work towards developing the national framework.

Drawing lessons from past emergencies, including the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic, he stressed that the effectiveness of Ghana’s response depends not only on well-developed plans but on the ability of institutions to act as one coordinated system.

To sustain inter-agency collaboration, he proposed the establishment of an annual “National Public Health Emergency Operations Centre Day” to test preparedness, review protocols and strengthen coordination among emergency response and security partners.

Providing a technical overview, Head of the National PHEOC, Dr Lawrence Lartey, outlined five core strategic documents being launched as one integrated system.

They include the National PHEOC Strategic Plan (2026–2030) which sets the overarching direction and five-year implementation roadmap, the National PHEOC Handbook (2026) which defines governance, Incident Management Systems, coordination and information management, the National PHEOC Standard Operating Procedures Volume 1 which provides guidelines for activation, escalation, de-escalation and deactivation, the National Public Health Workforce Surge Strategic Plan (2026) for building and maintaining surge capacity, and the Workforce Surge Management SOPs Volume 2 which governs roster management, activation, deployment and post-response reintegration.

Dr Lartey said the documents align with the International Health Regulations (2005), address priority recommendations from the Joint External Evaluation and advance the National Action Plan for Health Security.

He listed seven strategic priority areas guiding the plan as governance, ICT and public health intelligence leveraging AI and predictive modelling, logistics and infrastructure, emergency operations and Incident Management Systems, workforce surge capacity and sustainable financing.

Partner institutions pledged continued support for implementation. KOICA Ghana Country Director Dong Wan Woo reaffirmed Korea’s commitment and described the launch as the beginning of a new phase focused on sustained implementation.

Outgoing US CDC Country Director Dr Danielle T. Barradas, who noted the journey started five years ago, said real-world events including COVID-19, Marburg, Mpox, Lassa fever and polio had tested Ghana’s system and shaped the documents to move from individual memory to institutionalised systems.

AFENET Ghana representative Joshua Asamoah Frimpong described the launch as the culmination of over a decade of partnership and said the true test will be a 2 a.m. emergency response.

Representatives from Resolve to Save Lives and Palladium also commended GHS and highlighted the need for collaborative surveillance, training and simulation exercises to translate plans into swift, life-saving action.

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