STATEMENT: Shout Africa Foundation Launches Journal To Highlight The Impact Of COVID-19

Without warning the entire world changed due to COVID-19. However, in responding to a global crisis, good leadership is important. Having strong leaders can significantly impact how well a country responds to a pandemic.

During the height of the coronavirus, the Ghanaian government under the leadership of President Nana Akufo Addo took charge of the country and implemented many carefully planned measures to mitigate the spread of the virus in the country to ensure the safety of both Ghanaians and foreigners in the country.

No single document can capture all parameters of the deadly pandemic in the West African country, nevertheless, the Shout Africa Foundation, a public health Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) under the supervision of the Project coordinators Edmund Kyei and Jimmy Eko-Acquah, saw the need to take up the responsibility of gathering information from credible sources including already published works to share with the wider Ghanaian population and the International Community on Ghana's version of the initiatives taken which have proven effective in dealing with the deadly pandemic head-on.

This information and more can be read in the 2021 edition of Africa’s most comprehensive public health journal, the Ghana Public Health Matters Magazine. This magazine has received both local and international recognition from the likes of United States Democrats politician and author Hon. Erica Thomas, the Georgia Atlanta State Representative.

The Ghana Public Health Matters Magazine briefly summarises the initiatives, activities, and tools in support of the whole-of-Government by business sectors, international partners and the civil society, in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The articles in the journal cover sector by sector impacts such as agriculture, energy, education, fashion and economy.

Though the fight against COVID-19 is not over, the Shout Africa Foundation believes this comprehensive public health journal may serve as a guide to any society, both locally and internationally, who desires drastic measures in taming a pandemic as deadly as the novel coronavirus pandemic and to also shed light on how it impacted the socio-economic aspects of the Ghanaian society.

Coronavirus is the most recent public health issue to sweep across the entire Globe. On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed that the novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness that affected a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. This was reported to the WHO on 31st December 2019. On 11th March 2020, WHO declared the novel COVID-19 a pandemic.