PLANNING MEETING: ONE HEALTH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE CAPACITY BUILDING

In an era of emergence and reemergence of zoonotic outbreaks and other events of public health importance in Ghana and beyond, the quantity and quality of trained workforce in emergency preparedness and response cannot be overemphasised. Over the years, various sectors in the one health space have either worked individually or with other sectors to train frontline personnel to address these events when they occur, while other sectors have been out of the picture in most instances. This approach has led to duplication of effort, poor coordination, operation and technical performance regarding health security in Ghana. Identifying and engaging relevant stakeholders in the planning and rollout of capacity-building interventions will not only result in an increased number of trained frontline workers but also contribute to improved coordination and collaboration during emergencies.

To effectively plan for the one health capacity building in Ghana under the Pandemic Fund’s support, a meeting was organised for key stakeholders from September 4-5, 2025. This meeting aimed to harness the support and expertise of all key stakeholders to enhance the coordination, operation, and technical performance of emergency management in Ghana. 

Discussions during these two days centred on the key sectors, target audience and approach for the One Health emergency preparedness and response training in Ghana. The team also reviewed sample training modules compiled from resources from the World Health Organisation and the United States Centres for Disease Control. With the modules finalised, stakeholders worked in groups to develop outlines for each module. Outputs from group working sessions were presented for input from the larger group, and modifications were made accordingly.

The two-day planning meeting concluded successfully, with the target audience and training approach defined, and finalised eleven draft module outlines for one health capacity building in emergency preparedness and response in Ghana to improve coordination, operation and technical performance in health security.