The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, is urging parents in the Upper West Region to sign consent forms to allow school-going children to be vaccinated in the ongoing Inactivated Polio Vaccination (IPV) Campaign. Mr Chinnia Issahaku said this is necessary because the consequences of polio on the children, parents and the national development are immense.
In December 2019, the Ghana Health Service gathered information that the return of polio to the country was imminent after some cases were reported in the Northern Region and the Bono area. To help the country eradicate the polio virus, a National Inactivated Polio Vaccination IPV Campaign was instituted.
In December last year, the Upper West Regional Directorate of health services oversaw the immunisation of children aged between 1-year-9-months and 4 years in four districts and municipalities. They are the Lambussie District, Nandom, Lawra and Jirapa Municipalities.
This week, the campaign is targeting more than 64,000 children in the remaining 7 districts and municipalities. In the Wa Municipality alone, over 9,000 children are being targeted.
The Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, together with the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, and a team from UNICEF visited some of the centres for the immunisation. The team visited the Urban Clinic and the Care Education Complex, a basic school in the Wa Municipality.
The Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Osei Kufuor-Afreh mentioned that the approach in this IPV campaign is different saying “this exercise is just for the 7 remaining districts and municipalities and it is going to last for 7 days. The strategy is not going from people’s homes looking for the children but to sit and create awareness for the guardians or parents to bring their children who are eligible”.
The Chief field Officer from UNICEF, Margaret Wada, said during their routine inspection, it became clear that the immunisation teams in some districts had difficulty in accessing some of the health facilities in the communities.
She also mentioned inadequate cold chain storage materials as a major challenge due to the temperature-delicateness of the vaccines. Madam Wada entreated government to fix the roads to allow for health personnel conduct similar exercises with ease.
The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku encouraged parents to take part in the exercise.
“We all know the consequences of polio. The costs that the family would incur, the suffering that the child will go through, if a child is infected with polio is so enormous. You are going to leave your productive hours that you are supposed to work as a parent to attend to the child and sometime you end up losing the child. We are pleading with every parent, every family, if you have a child between the ages of 1-year-9-months and 4 years, send them to the nearest health facility.”
Mr Chinnia Issahaku commended the Upper West Regional Directorate of Health Services for their pro-activeness in getting parents to sign consent forms before the start of the program while also commending UNICEF for their support towards the implementation of the program.
The exercise which began on the February 19 is expected to end on Monday, February 24.
Story filed by Mark Smith.
