CSOs in health and child rights organizations are impressing on the government to make available funding for vaccines meant for the immunization of children under the age of five.
In 2022 and the early part of 2023, Ghana’s immunization drive was impeded by the shortage of vaccines due to delays in payment. In a stakeholder engagement organized jointly by Send Ghana and Hope For Future Generations to solicit inputs from citizens towards the 2024 budget, the executive director for Hope for Future Generation Cecilia Senoo, indicated that the government must prioritize funding for vaccines in the budget.
“GAVI, UNICEF, all of them support our vaccine, but they cannot own it. The country must own it and have explicit budget line, sustainable one for immunizations, so that we can have the future generation protected. It is a whole investment. If you don’t protect your children, you will end up spending a lot of money treating diseases that are preventable. We don’t need that in this country. We must plan, we must ensure that the tax that we are all paying we allocate it for the future of our children”.
This appeal aims to avert a recurrence of vaccine shortages, which could heighten children’s vulnerability to diseases that these vital vaccines aim to protect against.
Social Policy Analyst Kwesi Asante from UNICEF stressed the need for the establishment of a sustainable funding source for immunization efforts.
“And so as a country we need to have a strategy. How do we mobilize resources to sustainably procure vaccines. Recently there were some vaccine shortages and Nigeria had to come to our aid. We can continue that way. So it’s important that we come together as stakeholders come together and think beyond just one year, how sustainably we can finance it”.
The Country Representative for the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), Stephen Atasige expressed enthusiasm for the establishment of a vaccine institute in Ghana. However, he emphasized the need for the government to commit adequate financial resources to support it’s operations.
I think it excites us as a global health advocacy incubator and our partners Send Ghana and Hope For future generations that the Government of Ghana is committed to this vaccine Institute. It’s exciting to also know that it’s even been put into policy and an act of Parliament. But it’s not enough to have policies, you need to fund it. And that’s why we believe the government of Ghana should go all out to dedicate financing for epidemic preparedness and immunization”.
Deputy Country Director of Send Ghana Dr. Emmanuel Ayifah underlined the importance of this stakeholder dialogue.
“We try as much as possible to bring people together every year. We bring the ordinary citizen, persons with disabilities, adolescents, young men and woman. We bring traditional leaders, we bring people also from the rural district, assemblies and technical people as well together. The point is that if you have the opportunity to meet the president, or to meet the Minister for Finance or Minister for Health, or any of the sector ministers to actually say to them one very important thing that you want see in the 2024 budget, what would it be?”
Childhood immunization is hailed as one of the most cost-effective public health strategies to prevent mortality from infectious diseases and Ghana could reap significant benefits if the much needed investment is made to sustain the gains already made.
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