Ghana receives 400,000 doses of malaria for immunization of children

General News on Friday, April 12, 2019

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh

2019-04-12

Ghana has received 400,000 doses of the world's first immunization vaccine for children aged six months to two years.

The RTS malaria vaccine, S / ASOI, which is expected to serve as an additional tool for malaria elimination in the country, will be rolled out under the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Program (MVIP) as of 1 May 2019.

Children in 33 districts in six selected regions across the country will benefit from the four-dose vaccine designed to stimulate the immune system to defend malaria.

The exercise would last two to three years, after which it would be extended nationwide, depending on its success.

Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), informed the journalists of MVIP of Accra that the country had the capacity to receive more vaccines and was able to keep up with an effective supply chain cycle to ensure the injections. reaches all the enforcement agents on time.

"We badessed and ensured adequate capacity in the country's cold chain and injection waste management as part of a number of preparatory activities conducted by the Ministry of Health and its partners to ensure security of the introduction of MVIP.

It is important to stress that all districts, whether they are in the implementation phase or not, will receive a full set of other malaria interventions, "he said.

Dr. Nsiah-Asare indicated that routine monitoring of the safety profile of the RTS, S would be carried out as well as maintaining an effective communication strategy, staff training and in-depth stakeholder engagement to promote implementation. smooth work of the MVIP.

He called for the cooperation of all stakeholders, encouraging parents to bring their children to vaccination when the program begins, indicating that Ghana has made progress in reducing the incidence of diseases such as measles, poliomyelitis, including through vaccination.

"This, like any other vaccination, is free and parents should not pay for it. The government and its agencies have borne the costs. Therefore, if someone tries to charge a fee for this vaccination, feel free to attract the attention of the service, "he said.

Dr. Badu Sarkodie, Director of Public Health, GHS, giving an overview of the program, explained that the pilot test of the vaccine was to evaluate "the feasibility, safety and impact of the vaccine". Injection in the context of routine use alongside other currently recommended malaria control measures'. .

He added that between 120 and 150 children were targeted for vaccination, "at least 50,000 cases of malaria should be avoided and about 750 children should be saved from death in the intervention areas".

Ghana in 2017, has received approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) alongside two other African countries; Kenya and Malawi to implement the world's first malaria vaccine.

It followed a national response in 2016 to WHO's call to various ministries of health around the world to express their interest in collaboration with MVIP leading to a clinical trial of the vaccine in two research centers across the country; Agogo and Kintampo in the Ashanti and Bono regions respectively.

The available statistics show that 4% of the total number of malaria cases in the world in 2017 came from Ghana and were among the 20 countries most affected by the prevalence of the disease the same year in the world.

Of the nearly 600,000 annual deaths from malaria worldwide, about 90% occur in sub-Saharan Africa, of which 83% are children under five years of age.

Malaria is a deadly disease caused by parasites transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito, anopheles.

Symptoms may include fever, headache, feeling cold with chills, vomiting, high temperature, among others.