When Ghana’s capital, recorded the country’s first two cases of COVID-19 on March 12, 2020, Dr. Charity Sarpong knew she had to brace herself for an arduous task. 
As the in-charge of the Greater Accra Region that has the most COVID-19 cases, she has over the past months shouldered the responsibility of implementing a seamless response system to fight the novel viral infection.   
“It has not been an easy journey but relying on the guidelines developed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with the support of the WHO my team is still motivated to continue fighting the pandemic,” she says. 
Dr. Charity Sarpong, like other female frontline health workers who risk their lives daily to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, talks about how the pandemic has changed her life, her motivation, the challenges she faces and successes she has accomplished.   

How has COVID-19 impacted your work routine?
The COVID-19 pandemic has in its own way redefined the usual work routine. For us to get the pandemic under control, we needed to move ahead of the virus and as such we have had to work for long hours beyond the usual working hours to coordinate effectively the various interventions used to control its spread. These extra hours though tasking was essential for us to get the situation under control.
The social distancing protocol has also forced us to move from the usual face to face meetings and use the various web-based platforms such as ZOOM for meetings. This has helped us to promptly organize meetings no matter how dispersed the team members may be. Thus, allowing people to be present in their service areas whilst still participating in important meetings.

Is your family/friends worried about your work?
I must say that at the early stages of the pandemic, my family and friends had genuine concerns and fears due to the high mortality rate other countries were experiencing. 
However, overtime these fears have settled as they appreciate daily the impact of the work I do on the general society. 
How do you cope with the pressure and stress due to the pandemic?
I rely on the support system that as a team we use to support each other and this has helped me cope immensely with the pressure and stress of the pandemic. The entire response was decentralized from the regional to the district and sub- district level. Each team at each level has been empowered to mount an appropriate response at their level. Ad-hoc committees are also set-up to manage unique situations that arise thus allowing more people to assist and reduce the stress on the key players.
I have also taken brief periods to rest and rejuvenate. Such periods are essential to allow the body to rest and recover from the intense activities we have been involved in.

What motivates you to keep going?
The call to serve my generation is my motivation to keep going. Medicine is a vocation driven by a call to serve humanity. Now more than ever humanity requires the health fraternity to lead the way to save our generation.
It is therefore essential that all medical people stand up to support this course. It is for this reason that I get up every morning and keep going.

What has been your greatest moment during the COVID-19 response?
The greatest moment for us in this response was when the first 162 patients in isolation recovered and were discharged. It was a landmark event which gave hope that recovery was possible and that COVID-19 infection was not a death sentence. 
These recovered patients went to their various communities and became agents of change. They shared their experiences and challenged people to adhere to the various preventive protocols.
 This helped reduce the intense stigma confirmed cases were suffering at that time. It also improved the willingness of confirmed cases to accept care in treatment and isolation centres.
Again, the minimum deaths we keep recording. If you compare our cases to other countries, our percentage of death is just about 0.5 per cent of all our cases and that shows the quality and the extent of the care that our response had delivered.

What are the major challenges you face at work?
Initially, it was the fear of the unknown and lack of adequate PPE but that was quickly resolved by the government. 
Also, poor compliance of some people to the COVID-19 preventive measures is the greatest challenge to the work we do. The non- adherence to the mask wearing policy, hand washing and social distancing protocols leads to the spread of the virus which causes new infections with its attendant effect on health resources. 
For us to control this pandemic and attain zero incidence of cases, it is essential that all and sundry adhere strictly to the preventive measures.  

What are the major things you have learnt over the months you have been in the frontlines of the response?
The COVID-19 pandemic presented us with an unknown virus that we had to immediately study extensively to be able to control its spread. Dealing with such an unknown enemy has taught us a number of lessons.
The greatest lesson it taught me is that team work is essential to overcome all things. The COVID-19 response brought almost all state agencies together. The Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and the other health agencies had immense support from various multi-sectoral partners. The various ministries, security agencies and even private sector and individual community members all played key roles. Even at the district level we still needed the assembly man and community leaders to help fight stigma.
All these partners collaborated and formed formidable teams which worked seamlessly to provide a robust response to address the pandemic. 
I believe the things I have learned from COVID-19 will be used to improve other health outcomes and I think that it brought out different people’s uniqueness in their ability to help improve the system.