The Gambia Events

Banjul: - 17 March 2022: The Ministry of Health is currently in the final stages of preparation for the second round of the national Polio Vaccination Campaign. The immunization campaign is targeting children under the age of five years, who are at higher risk of polio. With support from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other partners, the campaign will be held from March 19, 2022 – March 22, 2022. In preparation for the event, the Ministry and its partners have already initiated the training of local health workers, while the training for regional vaccinators is currently underway. The campaign will take a two pronged approach with its advocacy efforts: a door-to-door campaign, combined with targeting strategic locations like childhood development centres, nursery schools, markets, ferry crossing points, and health centres.

Vaccinating children with the oral polio vaccine is proven to stop the transmission of the polio virus in the community. The polio vaccine is the only way to prevent polio, which can be fatal if untreated, and historically, the polio vaccine has been shown to be the safest and most efficient method in containing any sudden polio outbreaks. Hence, the campaign is a major priority of the government with the aim of  protecting its citizens from the harmful polio virus. The vaccination campaign is targeting 382,908 children aged 0 -59 months old across the country'

It is in this vein that Ministry of Health issued a press release urging families, caregivers, community leaders and religious leaders to ensure eligible children get the vaccine. Health workers  alongside vaccinators, supervisors, and the international monitors are working hard to make the immunization campaign a success.

A concerned parent who wants to be anonymous lamented, “Let no child miss this opportunity because immunization saves lives”.

On 28 July 2017, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), Medical Research Council (MRC) and other partners commemorated World Hepatitis Day under the theme: “Test. Treat. Hepatitis".  To mark this important event a series of activities were conducted  to raise awareness among the population.   .

The WHO Representative, Dr. Desta Tiruneh used the main event on the day of the commemoration to explain the five types of viruses responsible for most cases of viral hepatitis and their mode of transmission. . He stressed the urgent action needed in The Gambia where nearly 10% of our population is infected with Hepatitis B.  “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on the international community to combat hepatitis, and for inclusive approaches that promote equity and universal health coverage to ensure no one is left behind”

He commended the Ministry of Health for developing a National Hepatitis Policy and Strategic Plan for the country with a clear vision and goals and urged the Government to invest in the hepatitis response by investing domestic funding and providing testing and treatment facilities by leveraging on the existing health infrastructure for HIV.

He re-assured partners of WHO’s continued support to Member States to implement the hepatitis strategy to eliminate hepatitis as a public health problem in the African region noting, “now is the time to Test, the time to Treat, and the time to Cure Hepatitis”.

The Permanent Secretary Mr. Jaiteh, deputizing for the Minister Hon. Isatou Touray described the day as a further demonstration of the Ministry’s commitment to controlling hepatitis B in the general population bearing in mind that the Gambia was the test ground for the introduction of hepatitis B vaccination in routine immunization services.  He paid tribute to the contributions and support of the WHO, MRC, the Government of the Gambia and other partners in ensuring that this became a reality.

He also thanked the WHO, MRC, GHIS (Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study) as well as staff of his Ministry for spearheading the commemoration of World Hepatis Day in the Gambia. He pledged his Ministry’s fullest support to the hepatitis campaign as well as its commitment to working with partners in addressing this public health problem.  He urged the organizing team to work closely with the health promotion directorate in ensuring that the general public is aware of hepatitis and how to prevent it as a public health problem in the Gambia.

Speaking earlier, Dr. Ramou Njie, a specialist in liver diseases and head of the Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study (GHIS) based at the MRC, gave a brief history of hepatitis in the country noting that it was very common in Gambian children before 1980s but added that since they started introducing immunization at the clinic level to date, only those who were not fortunate to receive the vaccine are the most at risk.

Dr. Njie gave an overview of the “PROLIFICA project, the first HBV treatment programme in Sub-Saharan Africa, aimed to determine whether treatment of HBV with a drug called Tenofovir can prevent the development of liver cancer in those who are infected”,

She encouraged people to go for screening to know their status.

The occasion was chaired by Mr. Momodou Njai, Director Health Promotion Directorate of the ministry.

The ceremony was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Social welfare, MRC, IAARC, WHO and the Media fraternity. Free Hepatitis screening was offered to the general public during the celebration which was held at a busy and popular part of Serrekunda. A total of 73 people were tested of which 6 were found to be positive for Hepatitis. They were promptly counselled and enrolled in to the MRC Hepatitis treatment program for further investigations and treatment.

Prior to the West Africa Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak, under Article 54 of the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005), countries were self-reporting annually their implementation status to World Health Assembly. However, several IHR review committees and various experts’ panels have recommended that, in addition to annual reporting, there is a need for after actions reviews, simulations and exercises and importantly, voluntary independent joint external evaluation (JEE).

The JEE is an innovative type of evaluation that is built on transparency and trust. It allows countries to identify the most urgent needs within their health security system; to prioritize opportunities for enhanced preparedness, response and action; and to engage with current and prospective donors and partners to target resources effectively. The host country conducts an internal self-assessment that is validated by a team of external experts to come up with the final assessment consensus scores.

In this vein, The Gambia this week joins 22 other African countries that have already successfully undertaken the voluntarily Joint External Evaluation to determine their International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) core capacities.

This Joint External Evaluation is intended to assess the Gambia’s capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health threats independently of whether they are naturally occurring, deliberate, or accidental. The purpose of the external evaluation is to measure the Gambia’s current status as a benchmark for assessing future progress in achieving and sustaining IHR core capacities. Global health security is a shared responsibility that cannot be achieved by a single actor or sector of government.

Its success depends upon collaboration among the health, security, environment, agriculture and other relevant sectors. This external evaluation is a voluntary initiative of the Gambian Government and is supported by the World Health Organisation (Country, Regional and Headquarter levels). The JEE is multi-sectoral, transparent and open in terms of data and information sharing.

Importantly, the JEE allows several stakeholders to come together from different sectors during the self-assessment and the external evaluation.

A critical next step for the Gambia over the coming months is to take the opportunity offered by the JEE to develop, cost, implement and monitor and evaluate a national action plans for health security. Such national action plans should be financed from both domestic and external sources.

The successful finalization of the JEE process will help the country develop a National Action Plan on Health Security that will enable it build its IHR core capacities for effective containment of public health threats in the country.