Accra ‒ As immunization levels fell in over 100 countries worldwide between 2019 and 2021, in the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in three decades, Ghana was not spared.
Driven by COVID-19 pandemic-associated lockdowns and widespread fear of contracting the virus at health facilities, routine immunization rates fell across the board in Ghana between 2019 and 2020. Coverage of the third dose of pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP3), which protects against life-threatening childhood infections such as diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, fell from 99% to 97%. In real terms, this left over 32 000 Ghanaian children unprotected by critical vaccines.
Now the country’s government, with the support of World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, is stepping up the drive to revamp routine immunization to reach the tens of thousands of children who missed out on essential vaccination, restore vaccination to pre-pandemic levels and strengthen the overall vaccination programme.
“Due to the pandemic, I could not go to the health centre on the mainland for vaccination because we feared we would get the virus,” she adds. The situation left Dufe exposed to childhood diseases such as measles, polio and yellow fever.
Health services in this region are scarce, with health facilities inadequate to meet the communities’ needs. The challenge is compounded by the high cost of delivering immunization services to this hard-to-reach location. Together with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, there was an urgent need to reach the 4200 children in the area who had yet to receive a single vaccine.
The ministry also engaged 22 community-based and civil society organizations and opinion leaders to sensitize parents and caregivers, to generate demand for routine immunization.
For many people, community mobilizers played a critical role in reassuring them of the safety of vaccines for their children.
“If it wasn’t for our community leader telling me that I could trust the health care workers, I would have been much more worried,” says Setornyo. “But now that I have all the information about how these vaccinations protect my children, I feel so much more secure.”
“During the pandemic, our weekly immunization reach was reduced from about 200 to about 50 children,” says Etornam Tsakesuh, the principal community health nurse at the Dadoto community health planning and services compound.
“But the logistical support and the training we got on the catch-up policy enabled us to take the services to the doorsteps of families, allowing us to increase our reach to about 300 children a week,” he says.
Currently, WHO is overseeing the construction of three dedicated medical boats to ensure that access to health care, including immunization services, is sustainable for these island and riverine communities.
“WHO’s timely intervention of renting boats, providing logistics and technical support for us was critical in restoring immunization services in this region, especially to the island communities which account for about 30% of the population,” says Dr Osei Kuffour Afreh, the Oti Regional Director of Health Services.
Critically, says Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO’s Representative in Ghana, the activities already implemented will lay the groundwork for sustained service delivery to these underserved communities.
“As WHO, we remain fully committed to not only catching up on pre-COVID-19 immunization coverage, but also surpassing it,” he says. “We will continue to support the Government of Ghana to vaccinate every child who lost out and avoid missing any more vaccines.”
Communications Officer
WHO Ghana Country Office
Email: sayibui [at] who.int (sayibui[at]who[dot]int)
Tel: +233 25 795 7942
Communication Officer
WHO Regional Office for Africa
Email: ridgardn [at] who.int (ridgardn[at]who[dot]int)
Tel: +254 11 289 0666