Expand levy into a Public Health Emergency Fund 
The Ghana Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations in Health (GCNH) has advocated the expansion of the fund and levy into a national public health emergency fund, to aid epidemic response. 
Members of the state of the nation’s health are expecting to see clear-cut allocations for epidemic financing in the budget for 2022.
“Allocating monies and resources to finance epidemic is something we need to start doing now, in the budget we should have clear lines on the amount of money allocated to the containment of epidemics in the country,”
Dean of school of Public health Prof. Kwesi Torpey said, this in an interview with the Daily Sun online in Accra.
He said in the last two years amidst the pandemic, Ghana has experienced other epidemics like meningitis and yellow fever, which required the assistance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to keep them under control.
Prof. kwesi Torpey, explained that “epidemic do not just come and leave, it impacts on our healthcare system may be catastrophic.
He said, has had negative impacts on families and their work, hence, the need for the government to allocate money to help gather resources to address epidemics.
The pandemic has revealed critical gaps in epidemic preparedness across low-, middle- and high-income countries, resulting in devastating social, economic and health impacts.
The coalition argued that a country’s sustained investment in and prioritization of preparedness for disease threats and readiness to act when outbreaks strike could fundamentally alter the trajectory of an epidemic and determine the number of lives, jobs, and monies to be saved.
Epidemic preparedness according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) constitutes all the activities that must be undertaken from the national to the health facility levels to be ready to respond effectively to disease outbreaks.
Story by Fada Amakye from Daily Sun.
