U.S. Shows Ongoing Support for Ghana During Pandemic

ADF STAFF

A U.S. Air Force transport plane that recently landed in Ghana was packed with supplies needed to battle the spread of COVID-19.

The delivery included 2,500 kilograms of medical supplies, including ribonucleic acid, nucleic acid extraction kits, reagents, viral collection swabs, specimen storage and collection items, and other laboratory supplies.

The U.S. donation came just before Ghana saw a spike of infections in June, prompting President Nana Akufo-Addo to mandate wearing masks in public. More than 17,000 Ghanaians have contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and more than 100 have died, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among those infected was Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, who was undergoing treatment at a hospital in June. Akufo-Addo said the health minister had “contracted the virus in his line of duty” while leading the nation’s fight against COVID-19.

The donated medical supplies illustrate how ongoing support from the U.S. is helping African nations contain the deadly pandemic. Earlier this year, the U.S. delivered two field hospitals to the Ghana Armed Forces, one of which has been used to treat COVID-19 patients.

Other examples of the U.S. offering humanitarian assistance through U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) include providing laboratory items to Ethiopia and Ghana, sending test kit reagents to Guinea and personal protective equipment to South Africa, transferring personal protective equipment to laboratory technicians in Morocco, and delivering field hospitals and ambulances to Mauritania, Senegal and Uganda.

The U.S. is developing COVID-19-specific surveillance projects with several African nations, including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, to understand how the disease is spreading or decreasing.

Tibor Nagy, the top U.S. diplomat to Africa, recently pledged that U.S. support to the continent will continue, saying that the U.S. government has earmarked $250 million to go toward Africa’s COVID-19 prevention efforts.