Opening remarks by the Regional Director
Honourable Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Minister of Health of Ghana,
Chief Director of the Ministry of Health of Ghana,
Director-General of Ghana Health Service,
The UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana,
Representatives from the UN family,
Distinguished guests, partners and colleagues:
It is my pleasure to join you virtually for the launch of the 11th African Vaccination Week. Thank you very much to the Ministry of Health of Ghana for hosting this event at a time when vaccines are among the highest of political agendas globally.
Our theme this year is “Vaccines bring us closer.” This is a reminder of the power of vaccines to fight disease, save lives and bring us closer to a healthier, safer and more prosperous future.
Ghana has achieved dramatic gains in immunization, with 97% DTP3 coverage as of 2019 up from around 80% in the early 2000s. So far, 19 African countries have achieved the benchmark of at least 90% coverage.
Thanks to routine immunization, more African children are celebrating their fifth birthdays with good health.
In an historic milestone, the WHO African Region was certified free of wild poliovirus last year.
Vaccinations are also having a huge beneficial impact on other diseases like cervical cancer, hepatitis and Ebola.
It is concerning however that routine immunization coverage at the regional level has stagnated in the past 10 years at between 70 and 75 per cent.
An estimated nine million children in the Region miss out on life-saving vaccines every year. Eighty per cent of these children are living in 10 countries. Among them Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia account for almost 60% of those missed.
To ensure routine vaccination reaches every child, there are health system challenges that need to be addressed. These include inadequate infrastructure, transport and power supply for refrigerators, limited numbers of frontline health workers, as well as stockouts of vaccines and other essentials, like syringes.
In 2017, African Heads of State committed to invest in enhancing universal access to immunization, through the Addis Declaration on Immunization.
Building on this, integrated action is needed to expand access to immunization as part of primary health care systems. This should be backed by a sufficient, trained workforce, strong surveillance and health information systems, and national leadership, management and coordination.
Communities should be engaged to improve health literacy and increase demand for vaccines, with special attention on reaching the poorest and most marginalized groups.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the enormous value of vaccines.
Through the COVAX facility, the African Vaccination Acquisition Task Team and bilateral arrangements, over 34 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to African countries.
Ghana was the first country to receive an international shipment through COVAX and I commend the country’s extraordinary efforts to ensure these vaccines reached the most at-risk groups in a very short time.
In the face of global supply constraints, the renewed momentum around strengthening pharmaceutical manufacturing on the continent offers the potential to sustainably assure access to vaccines in future. I ask that we work together to fast track this.
So, this African Vaccination Week, let’s ensure vaccination retains its place in national development and security agendas.
Let’s strive to protect all people from vaccine-preventable diseases.