Ghana
Meet Ghana’s vaccine king
Dr. K.O. Antwi-Agyei at the Ghana Health Service Disease control unit vaccination cold storage facilities in Accra, Ghana. Photo: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
This is a guest post from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, originally published on their Impatient Optimists blog.
Dr. K.O. Antwi-Agyei manages the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in Ghana, where he oversees the day-to-day work to ensure vaccines reach children across the country.
Ghana’s health care system has put a lot of its resources into vaccines. Why?
We can see a lot of achievements in reducing child deaths by investing in delivering vaccines. The returns are high, so the politicians and policy makers are convinced that it’s worth investing in vaccines. That is why at least every year within our budget we ensure that we pay for all our traditional vaccines.
Our communities have also been great because they embrace vaccination. They even testify that “Oh, our children used to die from measles. Now with vaccination, we don’t see measles.” And of course, they allow our staff into their homes. There is trust. We can now return to the communities with other vaccination campaigns. It’s marvelous.
What impact have vaccines had on the health of Ghana’s population?
Around 1974, immunisation coverage was around 1.6 percent. Today, well over 90 percent of our population is covered by immunisation services, reducing the burden of disease.
For example, measles used to be the number two killer of children. Now it’s no longer a cause of death for the past 10 years in Ghana. So a lot has been achieved through immunisations.
Last year, you were the first immunisation chief in Africa to simultaneously roll out two vaccines, one protecting children against pneumonia and the other against rotavirus. Why did you decide to do that and, and what was the result?
Our desire to reach the Millennium Development Goal to reduce childhood death was a very big motivating factor. Apart from malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea are the two highest killing diseases. So we thought, if there is no vaccine against malaria now, and there are vaccines against pneumonia and diarrhea, then it’s worth fighting. So we decided to fight the two together. We thought it would be difficult, but not an impossibility. And with careful planning, we could succeed.
How important are Ghana’s community health workers in delivering the vaccines?
They are very important. The front line health workers, they are in touch with the communities. They help improve our public health services, not only through vaccinations but also by treating minor illnesses offering family planning and providing other health-related services.
How does Ghana use data collection to improve immunisation coverage?
Data is used for making decisions. If your data is not good, then of course your decisions will also be faulty, and you won’t be able to achieve your objectives. So a lot of effort has gone into data reporting. We developed tally and register books for the basic level so that they are able to pick the necessary data on children vaccinated, and also on what vaccines have been used. We firmly believe that if you won’t use the data, then don’t collect it. So once we collect the data, we use it. If a region’s coverage is low, we immediately ask, “What is happening there?” We go and investigate and then give us feedback. Then, whatever the error is, we discuss it and correct it.
What is your long term goal for Ghana’s immunisation program?
To reach the top is difficult, but to remain at the top is even more difficult. For Ghana, our goal is to remain as a leader in the area of immunisation and to show our commitment and to develop initiatives which can spread to other areas. Whatever is happening in other countries has a bearing on us. We want to have success stories which can be shared so that together we can get rid of diseases which are killing our children and mothers.
This week is World Immunisation Week. Find out more about how ONE is supporting access to vaccinations.
Sisterly advice on oil – start with transparency
Lauren Pfeifer, ONE’s Transparency and Accountability Research Assistant, shares Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s call for transparency and accountability mechanisms in the oil industry of Ghana.
Renowned Nigerian economist and member of ONE’s Board of Directors Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala advised Ghana on the importance of building transparency and accountability mechanisms into the DNA of its fledgling oil industry. Speaking at the John A.Kufuor Global Development Series in Accra last Friday, Okonjo-Iweala said, “My sisterly advice is that you should be uncompromising on issues of transparency and accountability in the sector.” By building transparency and accountability mechanisms into the sector, Okonjo-Iweala hopes Ghana can avoid the pitfalls of a sudden influx of revenues from natural resources.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the John A.Kufuor Global Development Series in Accra. Photo credit: www.guardian.co.uk
Currently serving her second term as Finance Minister of Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala cautioned Ghanaians Friday to the subtle shifts that she witnessed after Nigeria began exporting oil. After the discovery of oil in Nigeria, its well-diversified economy shifted, non-oil sectors contracted, and an entrepreneurial spirit was sapped as energies were shifted to “chasing government contracts, rather than productive investment,” she said.
Ghana’s Petroleum Revenue Management Act has been widely praised because the legislation specifies how petroleum revenue should be collected and allocated. Okonjo-Iweala implored policymakers and leaders to strengthen it further by institutionalizing transparency in contract negotiations. She encouraged the Ghanaian government to prepare thoroughly before entering into negotiations with foreign oil companies and to invest the profits in public infrastructure.
Okonjo-Iweala also stressed the importance of regional cooperation, especially with regard to infrastructure and trade. She noted that several key building blocks for development – good economic policies, good governance, and investment in infrastructure and skills – are falling into place, making the time ripe for regional development. “With these building blocks in place,” she said, “we can create a platform for the private sector to grow.”
The discovery of Ghana’s oil reserves in 2007 – now known as the Jubilee Field – is estimated at between 800 million to 1.8 billion barrels, and is expected to generate over $1 billion yearly in export revenue over the next 20 years. The new oil wealth has the potential to provide Ghana with the revenue needed to drive development and reduce poverty.
African Voices: Elizabeth Kabach
Elizabeth Kabach, 37
Community Health Volunteer, Farmer and Mother, Batuisa, Builsa District, Ghana
I am a community health volunteer from Batuisa. If any accidents happen, they usually call me to see if I can help. But the road to my place is very bad. Here, we don’t have cars, we only use bicycles. If anybody is sick and you want to carry them to the health centre, especially a pregnant women—she is in pain – then you have to carry her with the bicycle. The road is not fine, there are potholes. By the time you get that person to the clinic, she is tired, and even pushing the child to come out is a problem for that woman. With a good road, it will be faster to send the person, and if there are no potholes, I don’t think she will suffer as much.
Elizabeth Kabach with her family.
One day they called me to bring a pregnant woman to the clinic. We were on the way with my bicycle, and she started to deliver on the way, but the placenta was not coming out. We called the ambulance, but unfortunately it was at Sandema Hospital (far away). And the bike broke, so I had to run to town and bring a vehicle so we could bring the woman with us to the clinic, to the midwife. The woman, she delivered very well.
Health insurance is a challenge, too. Once a woman fell sick, and after about three days, they came and told me. So I visited her to see how her condition was. It was very bad, and I decided to bring her to the hospital. But she had no health insurance, so she did not want to come, because without the health insurance, you can’t pay the bill. I had to talk to her, to bring her to the clinic, to collect her card and go to Sandema and renew it and bring it to her, so that they will attend to her. It was a long distance. I asked her why she did not have health insurance. She said it was because of the yearly renewal. Every year you have to renew, and she did not have money.
Students getting to schools on bicycles, the primary source of transportation.
And that’s what I normally do. At times I go around and ask if anybody has a card and it has expired, I have to take it. Because they do not want to go because of the bus fare. So if I am going to Sandema to do something, I collect the cards, take them there and renew them and bring them back.
If we get a small clinic in this town and if we have a nurse there, it will help. When someone is sick, we can send them there. And if the problem is serious, we can refer them to the hospital. Otherwise right now, when someone is sick they lie down saying, no, I can’t walk to the clinic in town, it’s too far away.
Featuring contributions from African citizens who are living in communities affected by extreme poverty, ONE’s African Voices series will follow their progress to give a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges they face and also to track changes that occur over time. Find out more at one.org/africanvoices.
This post was kindly provided by the Millennium Villages Project
What Africa can learn from Ghana’s peaceful election
Ghana is a country I’ve come to admire profoundly for its democratic credentials over the last five elections since 1992. And now, I have seen that country successfully transfer power for the sixth time in a row without an implosion. Ghana has done it again… it’s pulled off yet another peaceful election last week on December 7!
What makes this truly commendable is the fact that Ghana has maintained its reputation as an oasis of peace in a troubled region where smooth elections are not always taken for granted. Ghanaian activist and Free Africa Foundation President Professor George Ayittey highlighted a number of key factors that account for Ghana’s political maturity in an article for CNN this week.
I want to focus on three critical factors – from Professor Ayittey’s article – that Africa can learn from. These factors have helped Ghana in becoming not only the political inspiration of the continent, but the country from which we have come to expect much.
First, the existence of a free media, particularly print and broadcast media and the proliferation of FM radio stations in Ghana, has provided a precious tool for exposing problems, holding government accountable and ensuring transparent elections.
A second underpinning aspect has been the existence of a strong and vigilant civil society – enabled by freedom of association, of expression and of movement as well as the use of new technology and social media.
The third important dynamic has been the maturing of political leaders, which in the words of Professor Ayittey, was “stupendously displayed in the 2008 elections,” and has been demonstrated in this recent election where once again the difference between votes for the two leading candidates has been marginal.
Ghana concluded its elections on Sunday, and voted in President John Dramani Mahama of the New Democratic Congress, who beat his rival Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party. President Mahama avoided a run-off by a whisker, garnering 50.7 percent of the votes, compared to Akufo-Addo’s 47.7 percent.
The elections were declared free and fair by the African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), and the US government amongst others.
However, even with an election that close, Ghana’s main opposition party will not be taking to the streets to challenge the results, in which they are sighting counting irregularities. According to the chairman of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jake Obetsebi-Lamptet they will be taking their matters to the Supreme Court. Yes, in the midst of an electoral dispute, Ghana continues to bolster its image as a peaceful nation.
You really do have to admire Ghana. My sincere congratulations to Ghanaian citizens for a peaceful election.
Image credit: Kofi Akrofi
8 Children, 8 disposable cameras: A snapshot of rural Ghana
KickStart Ghana is a UK-registered charity that aims to ensure that the people of the Volta Region, Ghana, can fulfill their potential and have every opportunity to succeed. We focus on the promotion of education and physical activity to do this. We use a mixture of grants and volunteers to achieve these aims.
At KickStart Ghana we have many, many photos of the work that our volunteers do, finished projects, the beautiful beaches of Ghana and loads of other shots. What we felt like we were missing was an insight on how our beneficiaries, the young people of Ho, saw their home town. Also one of our strategic aims is to increase the levels of understanding in the UK about what life in Ghana is really like and we hope this project helps with this.
We decided to give eight local school children disposable cameras and a week to take photos of whatever they wanted. We gave instructions on how to use the cameras, but very little other guidance.
When the photos were developed we were delighted with the results. Not only were the majority of the photos of a good quality, they also gave a fantastic perspective to Ghanaian life from a young person’s point of view. Please see our Facebook Page for the full album.
We hope you enjoy.
Agbogey Evans is 12 years old and plays for local football team, Dynamo FC. He has an older brother and sister, Agbodey Vincent, 18 and Agbodey Belinda, 23. When he grows up he wants to be a footballer. He plays every day and feels that there is nothing he would rather do. He likes reading books in his spare time but wishes that the hospital facilities in Ghana were better as they are not sufficient.
The photos show a different side of Ghana rarely seen on charities or tourism websites. Pounding yam in the heat isn’t easy!
Gadzanku Cynthia is 13 and goes to a local school in Ho. She has one sister who is 25, Gadzanku Suzzy, a younger sister called Krakani Divina who is 4 and an older brother, Krakina Gilchrist who is 17. When she grows up she wants to be a lawyer and her favourite thing about living in Ghana is all the football that is played. If she were to change something about Ghana it would be that she would ensure that all Ghanaians are treated equally with no favor shown to one particular group.
Football is, without doubt, the national game in Ghana and is played wherever there is space, often in just flip flops or no shoes at all.
Ghana is a country that is on the rise economically and a result of this can be seen in the many infrastructure projects that are taking place all over the country.
Dzokota Mark is 16 years old and attends a local school in Ho. He has an older brother called Azokoto Prince who is 18. He wants to be a footballer when he grows up and plays all the time. He loves playing sports and other games with friends and his favorite thing about Ghana is going to church on Sundays. He thinks the biggest improvement that could be made in Ghana would to be to build more hospitals and homes for families.
Adaklu Mountain dominates the sky line around Ho, but great views are on offer from the top.
Western volunteers and travellers are an increasingly common site in Ho and across the rest of Ghana.
Time is made to spend with friends, play and listen to music; exactly like young people do in the Western world.
Kotoka Vera is 16 years old and has lived in Ho all her life. She has an older brother called Kotoka John who is 21. When she grows up she wants to go to university and become a lawyer so that she can help people. Her favorite thing about living in Ghana is all the different sports that are played. She strongly believes that Ghana would benefit if more orphanage homes were built for the children that need them.
The annual Yam Festival is celebrated by a large and boisterous trip to the top of Mount Adaklu.
This is a fantastic chance for the whole community to come together and celebrate.
Did you enjoy these photos? Let us know and leave KickStart Ghana a nice comment below.
African voices: community health in northern Ghana
Fatahiya Yakuba, Community Health Nurse
Kpasenkpe Health Center
West Mamprusi District, Northern Ghana
My name is Fatahiya Yakuba, and I am a community health nurse at the Kpasenkpe Health Center in West Mamprusi District in Northern Ghana. I have worked here for two years, longer than any of my colleagues, and there have been long stretches, sometimes for months, where I was the only nurse here at the clinic. During that time and the years leading up to it, many people in the community lost faith in the clinic, and preferred traveling to a hospital 40 km away.
We have more staff now, but one of our biggest challenges is the state of the facility. The building is so bad. When it’s raining, the place gets flooded. We have solar power, but it’s only enough electricity for the refrigerator and some lights.
When they built this clinic, they built a latrine, but it is not in good condition. It’s broken down. So we don’t have any toilet facilities. We have no water here, so we send the cleaner to carry water from the borehole, or we do it ourselves. We don’t have beds. When people come and we want to keep them for observation they have to lie on the floor. They spread their cloths and lie on the floor.
The main health problems in this region here are malaria and diarrhea. Hypertension is also a problem: Most of our aged, when they come, they are hypertensive.
Another big problem is transportation. This health facility covers 16 communities, and many of them are not near, and during the rains some of them are completely cut off. The roads are very bad. It can take two hours on a motorbike to get here from some of our communities. It is especially risky for pregnant women. If a woman is in labor and she is on a motorbike to come to the health center, it’s dangerous, because the road is not good. The way the moto shakes the woman, even if she is coming for antenatal services, she can deliver prematurely.
We don’t have a midwife at the health center, and as community health nurses we only do deliveries in an emergency. Under normal circumstances, we refer them to the hospital, which is far away. So many women prefer to deliver at home, and home delivery is very risky, and can lead to excessive bleeding, eclampsia, and infections.
There was one case where a woman was in labor for two days, and instead of coming to the health center–they stayed at home. It was only on the third day they decided it best to get medical help but she was too weak and couldn’t make the trip to the clinic. Her family members had to come here to call us to go there. We were able to send an ambulance, but unfortunately the baby died during transit. It is sad but we believe that if the family had come early on during labor, the baby might have survived.
Mothers often have to ride their bicycles with sick children many kilometers to get to this place. And so you can see if the child is sick and weak, and you have to ride a bicycle with the child in this heat, you can see how he will get sicker and weaker.
This is a common problem here and throughout the region. Roads are in poor condition, there are very few clinics to serve the population, and facilities, medicine and staff are lacking. But we believe these problems are solvable and improvements, though slow, are happening each day. We hope they will continue.
Featuring contributions from African citizens who are living in communities affected by extreme poverty, ONE’s African Voices series will follow their progress to give a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges they face and also to track changes that occur over time. Find out more at one.org/africanvoices.
This post was kindly provided by the Millennium Villages Project
African Voices: Abdulai Shefu
Hello, my name is Abdulai Shefu and I am the head teacher at Duu Primary and Junior High School located in the West Mamprusi District in northern Ghana. I can say that here at school we have two major challenges: There are not enough teachers and not enough students.
Ten teachers including myself are in charge of educating 570 students from kindergarten through junior high. The staff shortage is especially acute in the lower grades: Just two teachers manage 220 kindergarteners aged 2 to 6, and a single teacher is in charge of 78 students in Class 2 (second grade). The classes are smaller in the junior high grades—just 25 in the seventh level—but that’s because so many children have left school by then.
Abdulai Shefu
In fact, in July a census counted 1,128 school-age children in the community. So about 558 are still left out there when they are supposed to be in school. But when I started teaching at Duu in 2004, enrollment was much higher. The difference? Back then, a donor-supported school feeding program drew many more students, but the program ended in 2007.
The twin problems—a teacher shortage coupled with a large out-of-school population—pose a frustrating challenge, but I am determined to make the school a success. The teacher shortage would be much worse, if we did not have the support from outside NGO partners.
But the lack of school meals affects learning as well as enrollment. Some students bring food from home, and some can buy food from vendors around the school, but many have nothing to eat. Because of the hunger, at times when you are teaching after, say, 12:30, they find it difficult to understand because there is nothing in their stomachs. You can even find some of them sleeping in class.
At the same time, the school is blessed with new kindergarten and junior high classrooms, and solar lights so the older students can study after dark, all a result of donor support. But the six primary school classrooms were built in 1987 and have had no maintenance at all in the 25 years since, not even fresh paint. The desks wobble and sometimes break because of the cracked and pitted cement floors. The floor is not good. A lot of children lose their toenails from the floor.
The cost of renovation would be around 500 cedis, or about $250, per classroom. So 500 Ghana cedis times these six classrooms would be 3,000 Ghana cedis, which is beyond our school’s capabilities.
Despite the challenges I am committed to education. I’m working on a university degree to improve my abilities for the future. For now, I earn no more than a regular teacher, and though I would prefer teaching in a classroom to running the school, I know that as head teacher I can affect many more children.
If I am a teacher, I would be teaching 45 pupils in a class. But if I’m supervising ten teachers, it means I’m supervising 45 times ten. That’s why I’m a head teacher.
Featuring contributions from African citizens who are living in communities affected by extreme poverty, ONE’s African Voices series will follow their progress to give a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges they face and also to track changes that occur over time. Find out more at one.org/africanvoices.
This post was kindly provided by the Millennium Villages Project
African Voices: Memuna Sandow
Before I became a district assemblywoman in 2009, I had already been working with my community for years, especially the women. But I came to realize that despite my hard work, without an official position, my ability to effect change would always be limited.
If you are not an assemblywoman, if you go to any place to say something, they will ask you, “Who are you?” But that all changed when I was elected to represent the communities of Wulugu, Silinga and Nabari at the district level. Now, any office that I want to enter, I enter, and tell them what I’ve come in for, and if they can help or they can’t, they let me know.
Memuna Sandow is an assemblywoman in West Mamprusi District, Northern Ghana.
As one of only five women in the 43-member assembly, I am especially determined to getting my voice heard. Many men in the community resist the idea of women in leadership. They believe that if a woman gets a higher position, she will not respect the husband, she will be arrogant. So because of that some men deny their women to come out and be a leader. And even though my husband supported me from the start, I endured intimidations and insults during the campaign. But the women in my community helped me to persevere.
As a member of the assembly, I meet regularly with the communities to find out what they need, and then advocates on their behalf with the government and other potential supporters. The rural communities I represents have a population of 1,700, but none of them has a health center, the schools are in poor condition and lack trained teachers, electricity is not available and water sources are inadequate, especially during the dry season.
In the next few years, I envision health facilities within easy walking distance of all, sufficient and accessible water supplies, and electricity to allow the communities to connect to the world. Nowadays, it’s computers everywhere. Without electricity, you can’t work on a computer. You use the computer to browse, to find friends, to find out what’s going on in the world, and even to find sources of support for community needs.
Education is a critical component: I want to see improved school buildings staffed by trained and committed teachers, so that all children, especially girls, can be empowered with education. Ultimately, it is women who take care of their families and communities. It is so important to empower and to educate the girl child. If a boy gets money, he goes to marry, he goes to drink. But if a girl gets money, if a girl gets good education, she will build a house for the family, she will take care of the family. She will even take care of other people that come to her.
Featuring contributions from African citizens who are living in communities affected by extreme poverty, ONE’s African Voices series will follow their progress to give a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges they face and also to track changes that occur over time. Find out more at one.org/africanvoices.
This post was kindly provided by the Millennium Villages Project
President John Atta Mills’ legacy
ONE Africa Director Sipho Moyo reflects on the life and accomplishments of Ghana President John Atta Mills, who died last week.
When an African leader passes on, their death is never a simple, clear-cut affair. It is nearly always shrouded in secrecy or followed by a constitutional crisis in which the citizens never know exactly who is going to take over.
Not so in Ghana, where President John Atta Mills passed away last week. He was 68.
The first African country to declare independence from Britain has also become the hallmark of what an African country can achieve if it stays on a steady course of reasonable governance and is committed to serving its citizens.
Ghana has steadily become a country where institutions work and governance is conducted through these institutions rather than individuals. The fact that the death of Atta Mills has not created any constitutional crisis in Ghana is testimony to the fact that that country’s democracy has become a tradition, and no longer an experiment.
Similarly his narrow victory — elected with a margin of less than 1 percent in the 2008 election — did not set off an explosion of violence as we’ve come to expect epitomized by the post-election violence in the Ivory Coast and Kenya. Further evidence of the maturity of democracy in Ghana is how a completely seamless transition has already taken place with Vice President John Dramani Mahama stepping up to the plate.
And despite the suddenness of Mills’ death, Ghanaians have not had to worry about what will happen or who will take over in the event of death. This is all because the constitution is crystal clear, respected and above all because their institutions function.
Not many African leaders are ever admitted and die in their own national hospitals. Yet in Ghana, where government has invested heavily in the national health systems, what’s good enough for Ghanaian citizens seems to be good enough for their presidents.
For this reason, we at ONE pay tribute to President Mills for his contribution to the consolidation of this maturing democracy and for his legacy as a leader who not only oversaw the beginning of oil production in Ghana, but also pushed for transparency particularly in respect of ensuring that the nation’s oil wealth would be used for the good of the people. We urge the leaders and the people of Ghana to truly build upon, accelerate and deepen this legacy of transparency, for this is above all the aspiration of all Ghanaians and all African citizens.
Ghana rolls out vaccines against two top killers of children
Guest blog post from the GAVI Alliance
Today marks a milestone for Ghana, with the West African nation making an unprecedented step towards saving the lives of its children from two of the biggest child killers in the country, through the simultaneous introduction of two new vaccines.
Pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines will protect the children of Ghana – as they protect most children in wealthy countries and a growing number in developing countries – from the leading causes of pneumonia and diarrhoea.
Many of us are lucky enough not to give these diseases much more than a second thought, much less realise that they are the two biggest killers of children under five. Many more of us do not know that the leading causes of both these diseases are preventable with vaccines.
Yet word is spreading about these two devastating diseases, and thanks to generous donors around the world, the GAVI Alliance is making pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines available to children in the developing world.
Globally, pneumococcal disease is responsible for approximately half a million deaths among children under five every year. As well as being the leading cause of pneumonia, it also causes meningitis, which leaves many of the children it does not kill with permanent disabilities, including mental retardation and seizures. Pneumococcal disease can also lead to blood poisoning, as well as middle ear infections, which can cause permanent deafness.
The severe diarrhoea caused by rotavirus can quickly dehydrate a small child. In developing countries, where access to healthcare is often limited, the rotavirus death toll is also high despite being easily treatable. Approximately 85 % of the half a million deaths caused by rotavirus are in the developing world.
For many countries, getting pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines to their children will make the critical difference in attaining Millennium Development Goal 4 – to reduce the deaths of children under five by two-thirds by 2015.
Since 2010, GAVI has already helped introduce pneumococcal vaccines in 16 developing countries and rotavirus vaccines in five countries. By 2015, GAVI plans to fund the introduction of the vaccines in a further 21 and 15 countries respectively reaching more than 50 million additional children.
As a result, millions of children’s lives will be saved. Countless more children will be spared the terrible suffering pneumococcal disease and rotavirus can cause, even when they don’t kill. Children will have a better chance of growing up healthier and getting a better education. Parents will be saved the agony of a sick or dying child and families will be spared the economic devastation that goes along with caring for a sick child. After all, a parent will spend any amount of money to prevent their child from suffering.
In Ghana, pneumonia and diarrhoea each cause approximately 10 % of under five deaths and the vaccines will make a big difference in helping the country to reach MDG 4. Although two vaccines have never before been introduced simultaneously in a GAVI-eligible country, Ghana’s health authorities decided they just couldn’t wait to introduce these two life-saving vaccines one at a time. The joint introduction required confidence in their health system and health workers and it is a huge investment in terms of preparation. But protecting their children from two savage killers in one step is an investment they are happy to make.
Photo credit: GAVI/Olivier Asselin/2012
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Accra, Bill Gates, Ghana, Health, Immunisation, Vaccines, World Immunisation Week