Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, has hailed the impact of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) on the spread of Vaccine preventable diseases.
This has among other successes, resulted in Ghana not recording any Measles deaths among children for the past 15 years.
Dr. Nsiah Asare has therefore urged the Media to help counter the activities of Anti-Immunisation Campaigners who could derail the onslaught against Vaccine Preventable Diseases.
He was speaking at the opening of the 16th National Public Health Retreat of the Ghana Health Service, in Sunyani.
The National Public Health Retreat is a platform for players in the Public Health Sector to deliberate on strategies required to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
It is also an opportunity for Public Health Personnel to reflect on their core functions, duties, achievements, challenges and progress being made towards identified health goals.
Represented at the Retreat are Public Health Practitioners from a cross the Country.
It is on the theme; ”Accelerated Public Health Interventions with e-Health and other essential tools for achieving Universal Health Coverage and Sustaining the Development Goals”.
Addressing the gathering, the Director General of the GHS, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, said Ghana is doing well in the EPI with all Regions achieving over 90% coverage.
He said the fact that Ghana has not recorded any Measles deaths among children for the past 15 years is a positive impact of Immunization.
He however called for a concerted effort to counter the activities of Anti Immunization Campaigners, whom he blamed for the fact that New York City in the US recorded two million cases of Measles.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service also stated that Ghana has experienced a high rate of success in TB treatment of over 84% between 2010 and 2015.
He however noted that the challenge with TB is the low detection rate in the Country.
In a welcome address, the Bono Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Kofi Issah, called for a new approach to meet Public Health challenges and achieve set goals.
He suggested that the Participants in the Retreat spend sometime visiting Health facilities in the Sunyani area to test their Public Health skills.
