All hands on deck to face the COVID-19 pandemic

It has been more than a year since governments and institutions the world over were called upon to respond to a pandemic which started as a local situation in the Wuhan province of China but, in time, has affected the way we do things on a global level.

Countries and institutions have responded to the situation differently and the interventions put in place by the leadership of organisations have been a defining moment in the lives of many.

In March, 2020, when Ghana reported its first case of COVID-19, little was known about the virus.

This limited knowledge also made it difficult for us at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to plan an appropriate response.

Protocols for frequent hand-washing, wearing face masks and social distancing were seen to be the most effective approach.

Other interventions such as lockdowns and laws to enforce the protocols turned out to be costly and difficult. It became evident that, for us to effectively deal with the pandemic, it was necessary for everyone to be involved. Lessons learned so far confirm that an ‘all hands on deck’ approach is the best response.

When the number of COVID-19 cases in Ghana kept rising, it came to a point when government had no choice but to shut down the universities and encouraged us to complete the rest of the semester online.

Then, after many months of staying at home, universities were asked to take steps towards reopening, while putting in place measures to ensure the pandemic did not spread on our campuses.

COVID-19 ambassadors

We had the option of phasing out the reopening so different year groups could be on campus at different times. The other option was to allow all 83,000 students to come back at the same time.

The university management took the decision to bring all the students on campus, together with a firm commitment from all stakeholders to work together to ensure strict adherence to all the COVID-19 protocols.

Students volunteered to become Covid-19 ‘ambassadors’ to ensure compliance with the protocols in their respective lecture halls. Meanwhile, both teaching and non-teaching staff also promoted the observance of the protocols and made sacrifices such as shortening their leave to limit the effect of COVID-19 on the academic calendar.

The university’s College of Health Sciences was at the forefront of the fight and provided expert advice to the government of Ghana on the management of the crisis at national level.

The faculty of pharmacy produced hand sanitisers and liquid soap for use within the university as well as by corporate organisations.

Experts from the schools of medicine and public health offered advice to the government, provided community education, introduced a mobile application for tracking COVID-19 and conducted a clinical trial involving the use of herbal medicine as a potential treatment option.

Faculty members from the department of statistics and actuarial science performed high-level modelling on the trajectory of the disease using data from the Ghana Health Service. Scientists from KNUST are involved in the government’s research team on this and future pandemics.

The college of art and built environment produced face masks for use by the university community and other organisations. The college of engineering developed prototype ventilators which are to be up-scaled for use in hospitals; they also built automated hand-washing machines for use by the university community.

Laptops for the needy

I initiated the ‘Support One Needy Student with One Laptop’ (SONSOL) project to improve access to online tools for teaching and learning as part of our quest to introduce mandatory hybrid teaching. The project distributed 409 laptops donated by our cooperate partners to needy students.

Like the proverbial African broom which draws its strength from the unity of its parts, KNUST has come this far in dealing with the pandemic because we have been united in our response to the outbreak.

The sacrifices made by our frontline medical workers at the University Hospital and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR), which was one of two major testing centres for COVID-19 in Ghana, must be particularly commended.

If we, as an institution, can smile at the storm of COVID-19, it is because our medical workers put the communal interest over and above their own interests and, for this, we are eternally grateful.

Government as well as our partners from industry have been very supportive in making donations towards the procurement of face masks, hand sanitisers, liquid soap and personal protective equipment for our students and staff.

KNUST, through its COVID-19 management team, reviews all our interventions and approaches to ensure that we have a firm grip of the situation on the ground. So far, we have been spot-on in the decisions we have taken in managing the pandemic.

The collective effort of all our stakeholders has been crucial to the successes we have chalked up. If we commit to a common vision, there is no mountain we cannot climb. The pandemic may not be over but, here at KNUST, our approach is and shall always be: “Keep going …”

This commentary was written by Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, the vice-chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

The Conference of Rectors, Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities (COREVIP) is an assembly of the chief executive officers of member institutions or their representatives of the Association of African Universities (AAU). The AAU’s general conference and COREVIP’s biennial meeting will take place under the banner ‘The Future of African Higher Education’. The virtual event is from 5-8 July.