A health worker on the COVID-19 pandemic frontlines…

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, healthcare workers worldwide mobilized to treat patients, often putting their own safety at risk.  

Scholastica Gladys Dery is a nurse at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital in Ghana. With over 25 years of experience in public health, Scholastica was on the frontlines of the early pandemic response. Despite being infected by COVID-19 during the first wave, Scholastica recovered and returned to work to continue saving lives.

In February 2021, Ghana became the first country to receive a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX Facility. Scholastica was present to help vaccinate her fellow Ghanaians, and in March 2021, she was invited to have a conversation with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres about her work on the frontlines of the pandemic and the importance of vaccine equity.