Public Health Emergencies are increasingly more turning into advanced and frequent and intricate, in total pushed by a convergence of factors including illness outbreaks, local climate-related events, technological hazards, and environmental degradation. Within the form of panorama, effective emergency response will rely on coordinated, multi-sectoral efforts grounded in loyal, proper-time knowledge.
Thanks to a joint initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Nationwide Danger Administration Organization (NADMO), over 150 multi-sectoral personnel from nine districts within the Volta, Jap and Increased Accra Regions delight in been expert within the spend of the Multi-sectoral Preliminary Immediate Overview (MIRA) tool—a globally known framework for conducting joint assessments within the major 72 hours of an emergency.
Speaking on the educational, Dr. Guracha Guyo, Emergency Preparedness and Response Group Lead at WHO Country Space of job, indicated that some emergencies and disasters might per chance per chance moreover be inevitable, but stage of preparedness might per chance per chance perhaps mitigate effects.
“While some emergencies are unavoidable, our stage of preparedness can vastly lower their affect. This training builds on WHO’s earlier collaboration with NADMO to manufacture flood contingency plans, and it marks a a must delight in step toward strengthening district-stage readiness at some level of the areas”, he said.
The discovering out represents a extraordinarily crucial shift from reactive to proactive emergency administration. People—from Ghana Health Provider, NADMO, District Assemblies, and other key businesses—had been expert to obtain, analyse, and share mandatory knowledge in a coordinated device at some level of six key sectors: Health/Nutrition, Protection/Security, Shelter and Non-Meals Items, WASH, Meals Security, and Training. This ensures that decision-makers at nationwide and sub-nationwide ranges glean harmonized, sector-wide insights to repeat targeted, existence-saving interventions.
Director of Illness Epidemics at NADMO, Ruth Arthur outlined the importance of this training. She said, “Properly timed and loyal knowledge is the basis of any effective agonize response. The MIRA tool equips our groups to mercurial obtain and coordinate vital knowledge, guaranteeing that every community—in spite of how a long way off—is accounted for and supported at some level of emergencies.”
Prior to this intervention, emergency responses in many districts had been in total fragmented, with diversified departments conducting their very have assessments and reporting conflicting knowledge. The MIRA tool addresses this vital gap by enabling unified assessments that tempo up reduction efforts and lower duplication of effort. Via scenario-based totally workout routines, participants realized how to prioritize desires like a flash, guaranteeing that abet reaches presumably the most affected communities within the shortest that you just might per chance per chance be in a position to take into consideration time.
Adapted from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) the MIRA tool has been efficiently feeble globally in battle zones and agonize-inclined areas. Its introduction in Ghana signals a major upgrade within the nation’s emergency response toolkit—one which puts knowledge, tempo, and collaboration on the guts of motion.
For frontline responders, the educational became but again than legitimate pattern, it became once non-public. Plenty of participants recalled cases the set delayed assessments led to vital gaps in response.
“It has been over 2 years for the rationale that most modern flooding within the district, but it has been worrying getting harmonized knowledge from the sectors. If we had MIRA then, things would delight in been diversified. This training on MIRA tool will resolve this hiss going forward. The following time agonize hits, we’ll know exactly what to attain, together” says Mr. Emmanuel Laryea Tetteh, North Tongu District Coordinating Director.
The long-term impact of this initiative is also being planned. NADMO has committed to institutionalizing the MIRA tool into its standard training curriculum, while plans are underway to scale the approach to regional and district levels nationwide. This will ensure sustained capacity-building and institutional memory in emergency preparedness, not just for current emergencies but for those yet to come.
By building a trained cohort of multi-sectoral professionals ready to respond together, Ghana is taking a bold step toward a more resilient and responsive disaster management system. In a world where emergencies can strike without warning, this kind of preparation doesn’t just save time—it saves lives.
For Additional Information or to Request Interviews, Please contact:
Abdul-Lahie Abdul-Rahim Naa
Communications Officer
WHO Ghana Country Office
Email: abdullahiea [at] who.int (abdullahiea[at]who[dot]int)
Tel: +233 20 196 2393
