At a glance
CDC has partnered with Ghana since 2007. CDC provides technical assistance to the Government of Ghana to support HIV prevention and control through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). CDC also works to strengthen laboratory, surveillance, and workforce capacities to respond to disease outbreaks in support of the Global Health Security Agenda; implement malaria interventions under the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI); and build surveillance and laboratory capacity for influenza.
Overview
CDC established an office in Ghana in 2007. CDC Ghana works closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH), Government of Ghana (GoG), and partner organizations to address the following public health areas:
- Global health security
- HIV
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Malaria
Global health security
Strategic focus
CDC's global health security efforts in Ghana help strengthen the country's ability to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. These efforts help Ghana reach the goals outlined in the Global Health Security Agenda. CDC works with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other partners to provide expertise and assistance across technical focus areas. These include disease surveillance, laboratory systems, workforce development, emergency management, and other critical areas.
Surveillance, laboratory, and public health systems strengthening
CDC helps implement indicator- and community-based disease surveillance to strengthen early detection and reporting of priority diseases, conditions, and unusual health events.
CDC supports improvements in laboratory quality and safety. CDC supported ISO 15189:2012 accreditation.
CDC and partners developed a national specimen referral policy and referral system in Northern and Greater Accra regions. This system reduced the turnaround time and release of results by 50% for many public health specimens.
CDC helped establish molecular testing laboratories for two zonal laboratories in the Northern and Western regions. In addition, CDC helped establish genomic sequencing laboratories at the National Public Health and Reference Laboratory and the Genomic and Infectious Disease Laboratory.
CDC supported the operationalization of the National Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) and four regional PHEOCs in the Northern, Ashanti, Western, and Volta regions.
CDC supported establishment of the Tamale Infectious Disease Treatment Center at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern region.
Workforce development
CDC supports training scientists through the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP). Established in 2008, this program trains epidemiologists to detect, prevent, and control diseases before they become epidemics. FELTP participants learn to gather critical data and turn it into evidence-based action. Ghana has trained over 400 FELTP participants who have conducted more than 100 outbreak investigations, including meningitis, cholera, yellow fever, influenza, measles, rubella, and anthrax.
HIV and TB
Strategic focus
As a key implementer of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), CDC works with Ghana to build a sustainable, high-impact national HIV program. This work helps accelerate progress toward The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goals to control the HIV epidemic.
CDC leads efforts to improve data collection and analysis in testing, treatment, and viral load suppression to inform decision-making.
In addition to helping generate estimates of people living with HIV, CDC helps develop tools and collect data for key populations. These include female sex workers and men who have sex with men.
Key achievements
- CDC led the implementation of an innovative national system for transporting blood and specimen samples to centralized laboratories for processing.
- CDC partners with the MOH, Ghana Health Service, and the National AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infection Control Program to develop and implement the e-Tracker HIV Module to track progress against HIV and case management services.
- CDC supports the Ghana AIDS Commission to develop annual estimates of people living with HIV to inform decision-making.
- CDC supported the Ghana AIDS Commission to develop and launch the Ghana Key Population Unique Identifier System.
- CDC supports an ongoing integrated bio-behavioral survey of female sex workers.
- This work is funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.
- This work is funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.
- CDC provides technical and financial support to the GoG to develop policies that strengthen laboratory systems and services, improve the national HIV testing, and enhance service delivery.
Malaria
Strategic focus
Under the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), CDC assigned a resident advisor to support implementation of malaria prevention and control activities in Ghana. Key activities include:
- Providing long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets.
- Providing indoor residual spraying.
- Preventing malaria in pregnancy.
- Improving diagnostics and case management.
In partnership with PMI, Ghana has made significant progress against malaria. Child death rates have fallen and life-saving tools, such as bed nets and preventive treatment for pregnant women, are reaching more people.
Ghana also uses an updated electronic District Health Information Management System, which improves malaria data quality, timely reporting, and completeness.
Key achievements
The malaria case fatality rate for children under the age of five dropped from 14% in 2000 to less than 0.5% in 2016.
CDC provided technical support to:
- Monitor the impact of a new, longer-lasting insecticide.
- Develop a national insecticide resistance-monitoring program.
- Create a national insecticide-resistance and entomological database.
CDC Ghana also collaborated with the Kintampo Center for Diagnostic Excellence in Ghana to support the establishment a WHO-certified national archive of malaria slides for training and quality assurance.
Influenza
Strategic focus
CDC works with partners in Ghana to help strengthen influenza surveillance and laboratory capacity to prevent, detect, respond, and prepare for influenza threats. Since 2007, CDC has partnered with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), the Ghana Health Service/MOH, and the US Naval Medical Research Unit 3 on influenza surveillance and laboratory activities in the country.
CDC supports the influenza surveillance system to conduct inpatient and outpatient respiratory disease surveillance in 36 health facilities across the country. This surveillance system is used to monitor influenza and other respiratory infections among all age groups. Ghana hosts the CDC Influenza Division regional hub for West Africa. From the West Africa regional hub, CDC supports the NMIMR by:
- providing trainings
- conducting technical assistance visits
- providing emergency supplies to increase neighboring countries' capacity to respond to influenza and other respiratory infections of public health importance
Key achievements
- Each of Ghana's 16 regions has at least one influenza sentinel surveillance site.
- Ghana tests over 10,000 samples annually for influenza and SARS-CoV-2, and contributes data for influenza candidate vaccine virus selection.
- The surveillance system detects influenza outbreaks which helps with timely response by the Ghana Health Service.
- An influenza sequencing platform has been established at the Ghana National Influenza Center and it supports regional sequencing trainings.
- Ghana's influenza surveillance system was leveraged for SARS CoV-2 surveillance and was instrumental to the COVID-19 pandemic response.
