Pneumonia has been rated as a prime cause of children under five years mortality in Ghana, with an annual death of 4,300 children and 72,000 cases though it is vaccine preventable.
Under five mortality is still high at 80 deaths per 1000 live births, although there has been a 30 per cent reduction from 2003 to 2008 globally. Pneumonia alone causes about 1.58 million deaths annually of children under five, which is more than the deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles put together.
According to a World Health Organization report (WHO), Ghana however has made phenomenal progress over the years in immunization coverage, from a national coverage of four per cent in 1985 to 90 per cent in 2012.
Dr. Koku Awoonor-Williams, Upper East Regional Director of Health Service, made this known in an address read on his behalf by Dr. Ernest Opoku, Deputy Regional Director of Health in charge of Clinical Health. It was at the regional launch of two new vaccines, Pneumococcal Conjugate vaccine (PCV) and Rotavirus Vaccine, effective against pneumonia and diarrhoea respectively.
He said to further reduce under-five morbidity and mortality in the country’s quest to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Four, the two vaccines had been added to the routine Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) services under the theme, “Two More Vaccines for Healthier, Happier Children.”
The EPI, he noted, was launched in 1978 with six antigens to fight against vaccine preventable diseases that were major causes of under-five deaths. “In 2002, the country added vaccines against two more diseases namely hepatitis B and Haemophilus Influenza B”.
Dr. Awoonor-Williams said deploying the pneumonia vaccines would lead to a reduction in Pneumonia hospitalizations and deaths in the country and contribute to reducing under-five mortality rate in Ghana by 20 per cent.
According to him, diarrhoea just as pneumonia is one of the leading killers of children worldwide as it contributes 17 per cent to under-five deaths in West Africa. Rotavirus is responsible for more than 60 per cent of all diarrhoea cases and 95 per cent of the children get infected by age three to five.
He said the Government, through the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, had implemented strategies to improve child health and prevent deaths among under five age groups, citing the second dose of measles, which was launched for children of 18 months to 30 months to address issues of reemergence of the disease and to increase protection among vaccinated groups.
He called on stakeholders, mothers, development partners, women’s groups and care givers to mobilize target groups to patronize the rotavirus and pneumonia vaccines, to further reduce infant mortality rate from 33/1000 live births to achieve the MDGs.
Mr. Mark Owen Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, who officially launched the vaccines, said the Government was committed to using health as a tool for reducing poverty, especially in deprived regions.
He noted that the introduction of the new vaccines should be seen as an opportunity for the region to set higher standards in health and ultimately reduce under-five deaths by 37 per cent.
He advised them to adopt better sanitation and environmental practices because, there was an outbreak of cholera in the Kassena Nankana East and West districts, which had claimed two lives and left 28 hospitalized.**
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