The Mastercard Foundation and the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) have teamed up to support the country’s Covid-19 response, the foundation said in a statement.

The $645,000 partnership, according to Mastercard, will provide personal protective equipment (PPEs) to frontline workers across the West African country, while facilitating community engagement.

Development Diaries gathered that the partnership is part of the Mastercard Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Programme in Ghana.

Mastercard will enable the distribution of PPEs to Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds and community health facilities, while the Ghana Red Cross Society will provide increased access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services.

‘Equipping our frontline workers, volunteers, and community-based health centres, who are the primary care providers for the majority of our people, is critical in this collective battle against the [Covid-19]’, Vice President of Ghana’s Red Cross Society, Dr Kingsley Preko, said.

‘This partnership allows us to undertake targeted community-level engagement to provide information on prevention and to support monitoring and contact tracing in peri-urban and hard-to-reach rural communities.

‘We are grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for supporting this intervention that enables us to reach out to those who need our support the most’.

Mastercard noted that the GRCS will tap into its network of volunteers nationwide to raise awareness and disseminate Ghana health service approved information in local languages at the community level, and will set up community-based surveillance systems for early case detection and referrals.

Meanwhile, the distribution of PPEs and activation of community information and surveillance systems have commenced across the country, according to the statement.

Source: Mastercard Foundation

Photo source: Ghana Red Cross Society