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The Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in Health, in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service with support from Gavi Vaccine Alliance, has organised a day’s workshop for 50 Queen Mothers drawn from across the country on immunisation.
The training was to equip and educate the traditional leaders on the importance of vaccination and their support for Ghana’s quest to end child diseases through immunization.
It was the second batch of training with the first one held for 50 Queen Mothers drawn from 50 districts in the northern zone.
The training was in anticipation of the mass vaccination of young girls between the ages of eight and thirteen against cervical cancer slated for October this year.
The human papilloma virus vaccination is intended to provide acquired immunity against papilloma virus infections.
Briefing the media in Accra yesterday after the training, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Safety Officer, expanded programme on immunisation at the Ghana Health Service, Daniel Asomaning said the training of the Queen Mothers was crucial to reach the target groups across the country.
According to him, vaccine hesitancy was gaining grounds for which reason persons of authority at the local level were needed to add their voice for acceptance.
“The Nurses find it difficult to convince people on their own because of the misconception people have with vaccines,” he said.
In his view, the need for vaccination could not be underestimated as evidence has shown that vaccination has reduced mortality among Ghanaian children across various diseases.
He rallied parents to make their children available for immunisation when the time is due.
President of the Coalition, Bright Amissah, said the trainees were targeted from areas where vaccine education was low.
In his view, if the vaccination programme be was to be successful, the involvement of Queen Mothers was inevitable.
“They are on the ground with the others and they lit children and a voice of conscience and authority in the towns, villages and hamlets and we thought that if we got them, our message will get to every part of the country,” he stated.
On behalf of the Queen Mothers, Nana Tiwah Amoakoaa Gyampoh I of Aseseeso in the Okere District of the Eastern Region said the training had wiped out some of the misconception them as Queen Mothers had about immunisation.
