The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is embarking on a two-week data collection exercise for vulnerable persons in areas largely hit by COVID-19 in the Ashanti Region.

The exercise, which is being funded by the World Food Programme (WFP) seeks to profile about 50,000 individuals in different vulnerable categories in the Greater Kumasi and Obuasi areas.

Spearheaded by the Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR), a unit under the Ministry, the exercise would target areas such as the Kumasi Metro, Asokwa Municipal, Asokore Mampong Municipal, Suame Municipal, Obuasi Municipal and Obuasi East.

The move is also aimed at building comprehensive and robust data on the poor and vulnerable to inform government's decision-making for relief services to affected groups.

Dr Prosper B. Laari, Coordinator of GNHR at a News briefing in Kumasi ahead of the exercise, said with the daily rise in COVID-19, it had become important to do a rapid data collection to identify those who needed relief services.

He said availability of data would simplify efforts of government and other agencies in extending support to vulnerable groups in terms of transparency and accountability.

"The WFP support would benefit up to 75,000 vulnerable people in Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Regions, which were deemed to be the hardest hit by COVID-19 infections", he disclosed.

He added that "the beneficiaries will be identified by the GNHR data aligned with poverty and food insecurity indices and they shall consist of 60 per cent female and 40 per cent female",

Touching on the functions of the GNHR, Dr. Laari said it was mandated to create a single national household window to serve as a database for the selection of beneficiaries for all social protection programmes in Ghana.

He said the Registry had successfully collected household data in the Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper East and Upper West Regions, according to him, were using the data of the GNHR beyond social protection to develop their medium term development plans.

He commended the WFP for funding the exercise and called on vulnerable groups in the target areas to avail themselves of the exercise in order not to be left out.