Ghana commended for eradicating childhood killer diseases
The fourth Africa Vaccination Week has been launched with a commendation to Ghana for its efforts at eradicating the childhood killer diseases.
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According to Ghana’s development partners in child health, Ghana had not recorded any measles related deaths in the last 10 years, nor had it recorded any polio case since 2008.
The Country Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Magda Robalo, said, “Ghana deserves to be congratulated on these important achievements.”
She made the commendation on behalf of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the launch of the Vaccination Week and also the 10th anniversary of the Child Health Promotion Week in Accra last Tuesday.
Dr Robaldo also congratulated Ghana on the strategies put in place to address newborn and child mortality, adding that newborn mortality constituted 40 per cent of child mortality cases in Ghana.
Vaccination week
To mark the week, a national launch will be held in Bolgatanga on May 2, 2014 and health workers will carry out a vaccination programme from May 5 to 9, 2014.
Seminars will also be organised for policy makers and the week will be climaxed with an awards ceremony to honour organisations and individuals for their contributions toward the eradication of child mortality.
Child Health Promotion
In her address, the National Child Health Coordinator, Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, said the child health promotion week was introduced in 2004 to reduce under-five morbidity and mortality in the country.
She said, it was worrying the rate at which children were dying from preventable diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, malnutrition and others, hence its introduction to create awareness of the availability of cost-preventive services.
She, therefore, called on the government, the development partners, the private sector, civil society groups and citizens to play their respective roles to support the principle that every child deserved the best possible in life.