Accra, GHANA— On Friday, August 28, the United States donated critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Ghana Health Service to assist frontline health workers in Kumasi and Sekondi in the fight against COVID-19. U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Stephanie S. Sullivan presented the supplies to members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), who will transport the supplies and be joined by representatives of the U.S. Embassy to deliver them on September 1 to the Kumasi South Hospital in the Ashanti Region and the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in the Western Region.
The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) provided the funding to purchase the supplies, valued at over 430,000 cedis, which include 10,000 N95 face masks, 1,600 hospital gowns, 2,000 liters of methylated spirit, 3,000 liters of sodium hypochlorite, 20 glucometers, 200 glucometer strips, and 14 pulse oximeters.
This donation of medical supplies and the cooperative delivery between USAFRICOM and the GAF are testaments to the advanced partnership between the United States and Ghana. In a handover ceremony at Burma Camp on Friday, August 28, U.S. Ambassador Stephanie S. Sullivan commented: “The United States is leading the world in providing critical international assistance as, together, we battle this global pandemic. And the GAF continues to play a leading role, along with the Ministry of Health, in responding to the pandemic here in Ghana. The U.S. Embassy and AFRICOM are proud to partner with the GAF in this and many other endeavors.”
USAFRICOM previously supported 37 Military Hospital with a similar donation of medical supplies and notably provided two state-of-the-art Level II Field Hospitals to the GAF in February 2020. The GAF has since deployed one of the hospitals in Accra, and it is now the second-largest COVID-19 treatment center in Ghana.
Read Ambassador Stephanie S. Sullivan’s remarks at the event below
OHDACA Medical Supply Handover
As Prepared Remarks for Ambassador Sullivan
Burma Camp Friday, August 28, 2020 11:30am
Lt Gen Obed Akwa, Chief of Defense Staff;
Ghana Armed Forces Service Chiefs;
Senior Officers of the Ghana Armed Forces;
U.S. Embassy colleagues:
Thank you for the warm welcome to Burma Camp! This is actually one of the few official outings I have made since March, and I’m truly pleased to be here in person for this occasion.
I’m honored to be part of the advanced partnership and growing cooperation the U.S. Embassy and the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) share with the Ghana Armed Forces (the GAF). Having participated in that partnership during my previous assignment to Ghana in the late 1990s, it is personally gratifying to see how this relationship has grown from strength to strength over the past two decades.
With funding from AFRICOM, the U.S. Embassy locally purchased these medical supplies, which include: N95 masks; hospital gowns; thousands of liters worth of medical disinfectant; and other critical medical items. These supplies will be going to support frontline civilian health workers, who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic with bravery and selfless service.
Doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and other health care workers are risking their lives every day to keep all of us safe, and these supplies will provide these heroes with needed equipment to keep themselves healthy. In this great example of military support to civilians, what in the United States we call “Defense Support to Civilian Authorities,” the GAF has volunteered to deliver these supplies to their final destinations: in Kumasi, the South Regional Hospital; and in Sekondi, the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital. Last October, in fact, I had the honor of visiting Effia Nkwanta hospital after participating in the launch of the joint strategy between Ghana and the United States to achieve HIV epidemic control in the Western Region, through the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (known as PEPFAR).
The United States is leading the world in providing critical international assistance as, together, we battle this global pandemic. And the GAF continues to play a leading role, along with the Ministry of Health, in responding to the pandemic here in Ghana. Whether delivering medical supplies to the length and breadth of Ghana via airlift or operating Ghana’s second-largest COVID-19 treatment center in one of two state-of-the-art field hospitals I presented the GAF on behalf of the United States in February, the Ghana Armed Forces are always at the ready.
Ghana’s soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women continue to play a critical role in the fight against COVID-19. The U.S. Embassy and AFRICOM are proud to partner with the GAF in this and many other endeavors.
Thank you for that robust partnership, and for delivering these medical supplies to Kumasi and Sekondi.
