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.   

31 March 2021 — One hundred and thirty-eight (138) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 9464 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases twenty-one thousand, seven hundred, and eighty-three (21783). To date, twenty thousand, one hundred, and eighty-two (20182) patients have recovered, including one hundred and eighty-one (181) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety-four (1294) and three hundred and seven (307) deaths. 

30 March 2021 — One hundred and fifty-five (155) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 7792 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases twenty-one thousand, six hundred, and forty-five (21645). To date, twenty thousand and one (20001) patients have recovered, including one hundred and forty-one (141) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-eight (1338) and three hundred and six (306) deaths. 

By Vivian Mugarisi

Jigawa, 29 March 2021 - On a recent weekday, community health worker Hajiya Balkisu Yahaya bared her arm and felt the small prick of the needle as she got her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from a colleague. In return, Hajiya Balkisu vaccinated her colleague too. The two are health workers deployed as vaccination teams to immunise against the COVID-19 disease in Nigeria’s Jigawa State and are some of the first to get the jab. 

Abuja, 31 March 2021 - “We should be recognized while making health decisions and not all should be made for us especially the girl child. The government should create more youth friendly centres where youths can feel free to discuss issues regarding their health, this will help the youth not to go into depression, if they have place where they can let out their agitations and have competent counselors to attend to them”, Isabel Anani a teenager and representative of Stand With A Girl Initiative said.

Abuja, 31 March 2021 - “Nine days after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, I am yet to experience any negative side effect and I was among the first set of health workers in Nigeria who received the vaccine. The vaccine is safe as I have not felt any different or ill”, says Mary Yarda, a Nursing officer at the National Hospital, Abuja. 

For Nurse Yarda, receiving the vaccine is mind-settling working in an environment that makes health workers susceptible to contracting the virus. 

March 8 holds a special place in every woman’s heart. It’s a day of celebration for acknowledgement of women’s contribution to human development. Women in the past were house makers, but today women play a major role in cultural, economic, political, and social affairs. Women are the majority in the world population and their contribution is a matter of great importance.  

This year, the theme for International Women’s Day held on (8^th March), was “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”.