Prioritise cold chain equipment, vaccine logistics - SEND Ghana advises GHS
SEND Ghana, a civil society organisation, has called on the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Finance to prioritise financing of cold chain equipment (CCE) and vaccine logistics across the districts in the country to effectively combat viral diseases such as COVID-19.
The Deputy Country Director of SEND Ghana, Emmanuel Ayifah, said even though the prevalence of COVID-19 had improved on the number of cold chain equipment and logistics in districts, there was still a deficit needing to be filled to adequately resource health facilities to tackle possible pandemics in the future.
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Mr Ayifah made the call in Accra last Thursday at the launch of a report to assess the compliance of Ghana’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) and the equitable uptake of the vaccines, while highlighting the experiences of citizens.
He noted that a fair distribution of the CCEs and vaccine logistics would ensure a resilient health institution that could preserve and stand the test of any potential pandemic.
Vaccine report
Dubbed: “Monitoring Compliance of Ghana’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan and Citizens COVID-19 Vaccination Experience”, the report was put together by SEND Ghana, with help from Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF).
The report assessed the extent of vaccination uptake among prioritised groups using data from the COVID-19 vaccination database, the distribution of CCE and logistics, adherence to Covid-19 protocols and the citizens’ experiences, opinions and motivations for vaccination.
Data was collected in four urban and peri-urban districts each in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, including Tema, Ashaiman, Madina, Obuasi and Asokwa.
The respondents were made up of health workers, the aged, teachers, as well as the public.
Findings
In a report, a Project Officer at SEND Ghana, Anita Asare Awuku, stated that the distribution of CCE was averagely fair although there were some gaps with the required numbers and capacity of freezers, cold boxes and vaccine carriers.
“This comes to suggest that government needs to adopt necessary measures to ensure the supply of required capacity and number of CCE and related accessories in districts with gaps,” Mrs Awuku explained.
Recommendations
Although the monitoring findings showed compliance was generally good, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) was advised to convene refresher sessions for its staff on the NDVP to enhance high levels of compliance with guidelines of the NDVP.
The Ministry of Health and the GHS were urged to adopt steps and strategies to increase CCE and vaccine logistics across districts within the country.
Staff of the GHS were praised for their good attitude and professionalism during the vaccination exercise, while health directorates were encouraged to sustain the vaccine promotion efforts and campaigns to contribute to the attainment of the country's herd immunity target.
It was also recommended that health promotion efforts for the COVID-19 vaccination exercise and subsequent vaccination exercises should adequately address possible side effects and safety as these were key for uptake, while focusing on the protection of family members and friends from the disease and possible deaths with less on mandates restricting access to services and employment reasons.
