This is to ensure enhanced and sustained access to vaccines and vaccination programmes, and how it could be managed and fully self-financed from 2030.

The road map also provides a guide to the gradual and progressive shift from donor financing to domestically funded immunisation services such as vaccine supply and deployment, and the strengthening of the health sector.

The Deputy Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Dr Naziru Tanko Mohammed, said this at the launch of a Financing Immunisation Advocacy Response (FAIR) Project in Accra last Thursday.

The one year project, an initiative of the Health for Future Generation (HFFG), an NGO, is aimed at strengthening financing for immunisation.

It is also geared towards advocating greater domestic revenue mobilisation, increased accountability and the timely payment of co-financing obligations by the government.

Impact

Ghana’s immunisation programme, Dr Mohammed said, was one of the most efficient and impactful on the continent.

"We have, over the years, achieved high routine vaccine coverage levels of more than 90 per cent for most of the antigens until the recent dips, which are partly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and related vaccine shortages," he said.

Dr Mohammed further said neonatal tetanus was eliminated in the country in 2011, while on polio, there had not been reported WPV in the country since 2008.

On measles, he said there had been no documented death in the country between 2003 and 2021 and added that there had also been drastic reduction in cases of pneumonia and diarrhoea in children, among others.

"Vaccination has helped to improve the life expectancy of the population in the country.

It has been the best investment any government could ever make.

"It has contributed to the reduction of under-five mortality from 111 per 1,000 live births in 2003, to 40 per 1,000 live births in 2022, infant mortality from 64 per 1,000 live births, to 28 per 1,000 live births, and neonatal mortality from 43 per 1,000 live births, to 17 per 1,000 live births within the same period," he said.

Appeal

The Executive Director of HFFG, Cecilia Senoo, entreated the government to release its co-financing before the end of the first quarter of the year to protect and save the future of children.

"We need to secure the vaccines before it is too late, at least 70 per cent would be a good show of commitment," she said.

The Member of Parliament for Techiman North, who is also a Member of the Health Committee of Parliament, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, described the project as significant, and urged the government to honour its obligation.

The in-country Coordinator of Global Health Advocacy Incubator, Stephen Atasige, said over the last 25 years, his outfit had supported over 300 organisations in 60 countries.

In an address read on his behalf, the World Health Organisation Representative in Ghana, Dr Francis Kasolo, said "in the face of evolving health challenges, it is imperative that we unite in our efforts to make immunisation not just a priority, but an accessible reality for everyone".

A representative of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Richard Selomey, pledged the support of the organisation to the project.