LAHORE – The United States, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), on Thursday handed over an IT wall to the Health Department to help strengthen the COVID-19 Command and Control Center’s capacity to monitor, analyze the data and effectively respond to cases across the province.
USAID has partnered with Pakistan’s federal and provincial health departments to strengthen Command and Control Centers at Health Secretariats across four provinces and two regions to reinforce the Government of Pakistan’s response to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
The Punjab Command and Control Center will lead high-level monitoring and decision making on COVID-19 at present, as well as other public health threats in the future.
Punjab Secretary for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Captain (Retired) Muhammad Usman Younis, and USAID Provincial Director for Punjab Kevin Sharp participated in the handover ceremony.
“The Command and Control Center will provide strategic and policy level guidance to help in the prevention, detection and notification of infectious diseases,” said Kevin Sharp, USAID Provincial Director for Punjab.
“Our collaboration on the response to COVID-19 builds upon the legacy of partnership and our shared goal to save lives through the delivery of basic, essential health services in the province.”
USAID’s partnership with the Government of Punjab to improve the healthcare system in the province includes the establishment of disease monitoring units in all 36 districts and training of around 1200 healthcare workers in monitoring and response for COVID-19, and infection prevention and control.
