The regional body says the disease can record fatality rates of up to 90 percent among infected animals, posing a serious threat to livestock production and farmers’ livelihoods across the sub-region.

Although the disease is not zoonotic and cannot be transmitted to humans, experts caution that an outbreak could disrupt livestock supply and potentially drive up the price of goat meat in the region.

According to the Executive Director of the ECOWAS Regional Animal Health Centre Dr. Koffi Eugene, livestock farming in West Africa is closely linked across borders.

“Livestock farming in the sub-region is characterized by transhumance and cross-border movements of livestock from Sahelian countries to coastal countries in search of better pastures and water points to secure the herds and ensure their productivity.” he said.

To contain the threat, ECOWAS is rolling out coordinated mass vaccination campaigns across the region. “One of the main mechanisms for combating these transboundary animal diseases relies on the implementation of mass vaccination campaigns,” the Executive Director noted.

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According to the Acting Director-General of GHS, Dr. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, this proactive measure is aimed at protecting frontline workers and preventing the further spread of the disease.

The Central Region has recorded 14 cholera-related deaths, raising serious public health concerns.

Dr. Akoriyea also highlighted the significance of contact tracing, revealing that health authorities have already identified families closely linked to affected patients.

Speaking to Citi News after visiting cholera patients at the Winneba Municipal Hospital, he disclosed that a team will soon be deployed to schools and market centers to educate the public on cholera prevention and control measures.

“We need to boost the morale of health workers and ensure they continue providing care without fear. That’s why we have decided to start vaccinating health workers and the families of those already infected to prevent further transmission,” he stated.

He further stressed the urgency of vaccinations to limit the spread, adding, “Contact tracing can be challenging, so the key priority is vaccination to prevent an escalation.”

The GHS’s intervention is expected to enhance public health safety and reduce the impact of the cholera outbreak in the region.

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He said sustained efforts were needed to strengthen immunisation programmes in the region and increase and sustain demand for both routine and childhood immunisation and COVID-19 vaccination.

Dr Djokoto was speaking at a stakeholder engagement and the second quarter risk communication and sub-committee on demand generation and vaccine uptake in Ho on Wednesday.

About 80 risk communication sub-committee members of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), heads of department, unit heads, representatives of non-governmental organisations and traditional rulers attended the one-day meeting.

Dr Djokoto explained that high vaccine uptake was essential for achieving herd immunity and controlling the spread of infectious diseases.

He announced that a national mass campaign against Measles/Rubella would be organised to halt the spread of the disease, from October 2 to 6. He urged the public to patronise the programme with great zeal and enthusiasm.

“Vaccination is widely regarded as cost-effective, an investment in health security, a human right and essential for public health intervention targeted at reducing childhood mortality and morbidity,” he added.

Dr Djokoto said the region successfully vaccinated 2,556 children who had earlier missed their vaccination in the first half of this year against vaccine-preventable diseases, and 3,703 children were dosed with vitamin A supplements.

However, he said, many children were left unimmunised in the region in the 2024 half year, comprising 7,865 children for Panta three and 9,459 for Measles/Rubella two, using the vaccines as a proxy.

That, he said, had significantly contributed to the low vaccination rate in the region.

Meanwhile, Dr Djokoto said GHS was implementing various programmes and projects to boost vaccine uptake and improve health outcomes, including routine immunisation, mass vaccination campaigns, Child Health Promotion Week, African Vaccination Week, social mobilisation and advocacy.

COVID-19

He said the National COVID Vaccination Days campaign had also been added to achieve herd immunity. Still on COVID-19, Dr Djokoto said only 538,195 out of the 1,113,194 target population were fully vaccinated up to date, since March 2021.

The figure, he said, represented 48.3 per cent of its target population.

“This is not only one of the lowest rates in the country but also falls short of the 70 per cent target needed to adequately protect the entire population from COVID-19 outbreaks, despite the positive numerous rollouts of the vaccination campaigns,” he added.

The DDH said that although the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 as no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the virus still posed a significant global health hazard.

“It is, therefore, important that we continue with the vaccination drive to ensure protection to the entire population,” he said.

Way forward

On the way forward, the Regional Coordinator of the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI), Emmanuel Bonsu, highlighted the need to strengthen routine immunisation and supportive supervision and routinise COVID-19 vaccination.

“We must also conduct Measles/Rubella immunisation and Vitamin A supplementation campaign more vigorously,” he said.

A youth queenmother of Ho-Ahoe and a participant, Mama Kuma II, expressed concern over the growing number of junk food joints that operated only at night in Ho and called for concerted efforts and a mass education drive to curb the trend.

Source: GraphicOnline

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The 2022 Global Citizen Festival’s End Extreme Poverty Now six-week advocacy campaign concluded with a nine-hour festival across two stages, on September 24 2022, which began in Accra’s Black Star Square and ended in New York City’s Central Park.

During the festival, Global Citizen and partners announced key pledges across health, food security, agriculture, environment, education, finance and innovation.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework convenes more than 22 United Nations agencies with the ambition of reaching all regions in Ghana, responding to the needs of the most vulnerable and seeking to leave no one behind.

Through Global Citizen’s advocacy work, the United Nations brought forward this commitment and as a result the EPI programme was scaled to achieve greater impact.

One commitment to improve the lives of Ghanaian children was made by the United Nations in Ghana. Since the festival, the UN in Ghana has vaccinated over 1.2 million children via routine immunizations across the country. This was primarily achieved through the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI), a programme supported by UNICEF and WHO. EPI was scaled as the result of the commitment made at the Global Citizen Festival in Accra.

“The immunisation of children is one of the world’s most effective public health tools, having prevented millions of deaths worldwide,” said Charles Abani, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ghana.

“With the support of partners such as Global Citizen, we can continue our work to enable the country to provide this vital element of healthcare to all Ghanaian children,” he added.

“Global Citizen is proud to support the essential work of the United Nations Expanded Programme of Immunisation in Ghana,” said Liz Agbor-Tabi, Global Citizen’s Vice President of Global Policy and Strategic Relationships.

“This programme demonstrates that vaccinating Ghanaian children from an early age protects them from avoidable diseases, saves lives and thus protects the wider community.”

According to him, the smallpox vaccine has the ability to help the body develop immunity against the monkeypox as well.

“The smallpox vaccine is effective against monkeypox,” he stressed.

Speaking on the JoyFM‘s Super Morning Show, on Thursday, June 9, he noted that this makes it easier to control the disease compared to the Covid-19 pandemic which had no cure, or vaccine, whatsoever at the time it broke out.

He was contributing to discussions on monkeypox, following reports from the Ghana Health Service that the country has recorded its first cases.

Currently, five cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the Eastern, Bono, and Greater Accra regions, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) says.

One of the cases was recorded in a Ghanaian who traveled to the United States of America from Ghana.

According to the Director-General of the Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the cases were identified through the testing of 12 suspected cases, including one case that was reported from the Western Region.

Following the country’s first five cases, Kwame Sarpong Asiedu has entreated the public to strictly observe the preventive protocols.

“More education and more awareness is the way forward rather than being too anxious that the disease has come. We need to go into the preventative mindset again. Sanitise, wear masks, wash your hands, and avoid crowded places,” he stated.

The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has said that government’s mandatory vaccination policy is non-negotiable.

In an interview on GBC, on Wednesday, he contended that the compulsory vaccination is to protect the populace.

“If you are going to a public place and you are not vaccinated, those of us there too we want protection, it is our right, so we don’t want to entertain you there until you are vaccinated,” he stated.

His comment was in reaction to a petition submitted to the government by a group of highly specialized medical practitioners, Concerned Ghanaian Doctors, to rescind the mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy with immediate effect.

According to the Concerned Ghanaian Doctors, there are potential dangers associated with the vaccines currently being administered in the country, hence their stance against the imposition of the Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

But the Health Minister in reaction said, the Covid-19 vaccines have been tested and have no adverse effects on individuals who get vaccinated.

“We’ve vaccinated, elderly people are those we even vaccinated first. With our testing, we did not see any adverse effect that leads to death,” he said.

Mr Mahama has also urged the citizenry to adhere to all the safety protocols, especially during the Christmas festivities.

“Let’s also observe the COVID protocols. Observe social distancing, wash your hands as frequently as possible, avoid handshakes, use hand sanitisers and wear a mask. And please GET VACCINATED if you haven’t done so yet. If you have, go for your second dose,” he urged.

In a new year message, he emphasised the yuletide has been characterised by super-spreader events such as mega concerts, street carnivals and beach parties, hence the need for everyone to be cautious.

“Over the last two weeks, many people are nursing colds and flu-like symptoms, but with most people not going for a Covid-19 test, it is being attributed to the seasonal harmattan weather,” he bemoaned.

Expressing concerns over data from health workers over the spike in positive cases, he called for prayers for the frontliners.

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“Dr Frank Serebuor, President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has put out a distress notice that medical personnel are overwhelmed by the numbers that are having to go into isolation because of the more transmissible covid-19 omicron variant.

“The New Year season is here! Let’s be more conscious of our health as we pray for health workers because of the more transmissible omicron variant,” he urged.

Read the full post below:

The Directorate seeks to achieve this target by intensifying its vaccination campaign through house-to-house vaccination exercises as well as the churches, mosques, keep fit clubs, unions and institutions.

Dr Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Regional Director of Health Services, announced this at the launch of the vaccination month in Kumasi as part of efforts to scale up the campaign.

He said the launch formed part of steps to prevent a possible fourth wave, which had been the case every six months since Ghana recorded its first case of the COVID-19 in March, 2020.

The surest way to prevent another wave was to vaccinate a larger population to reduce the risk of infection as the festive season approached, Dr Tinkorang said.

The Region, he said, had so far vaccinated 1,347,801 people out of whom 432,763 had the full dose with 965,061 receiving only one dose.

The Directorate was targeting to vaccinate about four million people in total to achieve herd immunity but so far only 36 per cent had so far taken at least one dose.

“We now have adequate vaccines in stock and all that is left is for people to make themselves available to be vaccinated so that we can collectively overcome the threat of the virus,” he said.

Dr Tinkorang entreated the public to continue to observe the safety protocols even after receiving the jab to consolidate the gains made.

On the Regional COVID-19 situation, he said only two out of the 43 districts had active cases, which were six in total, and that they were all being managed at home.

The region has a backlog of about 1,000 people awaiting the second dose of vaccination.

The Regional Health Director, Dr Emmanuel Kojo Tinkorang, has assured the vaccines will be made available in the coming days to those who will miss the second jab.

Dr Tinkorang has, therefore, entreated those who took the first jab of the Astrazeneca to avail themselves for the second dose.

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Those who have misplaced their Covid-19 vaccination cards, according to him, will have the opportunity to be vaccinated by providing their names and telephone numbers.

The vaccination is targeted at citizens who received their first doses in March 2021.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) announced an extension of the second doses which was supposed to take place from April 27 following a delay in the procurement of additional Covid-19 vaccines was occasioned by the global scramble for vaccines and the unavailability of same.

However, the first dose gives a person about 76% protection for about 90 days which coincides with the 12 weeks window.

The exercise would be undertaken in 43 selected districts across the country to cover frontline health workers, adults of 60 years and above.

Others include frontline government officials, media practitioners, frontline workers in the formal sector and persons with underlining health conditions.

It is expected to run till June 27, 2021.

More than 400,000 doses of the Covishield are available to begin the administration of the second dose to about 900,000 persons.

So far, a total of 850,000 vaccinations have been carried out in the country after the first batch of doses were received in February this year.

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Meanwhile, the government is expecting that by June or July, there would be a reasonable amount of vaccines available to vaccinate the public as it remains focused on its target to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians at the end of the year.

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Pandemic-related hotel closures in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte have forced thousands of prostitutes to solicit for clients on the street, they say.

“We are in the front line, moving the economy and we are at risk,” Cida Vieira, president of the Association of Prostitutes of Mins Gerais state, told AFP news agency.

“We need to get vaccinated.”

Vieira and other women held a protest on Monday in a street lined with shuttered hotels where they used to work, waving placards bearing messages like ‘Sex workers are health professionals too’ and ‘Sex workers are a priority group.

“We are part of the priority group because we deal with various types of people and our lives are at risk, said Lucimara Costa,” one of the sex workers protesting said..

“We are a priority group, we are health educators, peer educators. We form part of that group, since we give information about STIs for men, distribute condoms…’ said Vieira.

The Brazilian government has prioritised health workers, teachers, the elderly, indigenous people and people with underlying health conditions for the first round of vaccinations.

It hopes to vaccinate these priority groups, some 77 million people, in the first half of 2021, but experts say the process may drag into September due to a shortage of doses.

Like the rest of Brazil, Minas Gerais state has been battling a second pandemic wave, but the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, at 121, is among the lowest in the country.

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 332,000 lives in Brazil, a toll second only to the United States.

On Tuesday, Brazil recorded 86,979 new cases.

For the first time, more than 4,000 deaths were recorded in a single day with 4,195 reported.

This was at the 37 Military Hospital on Monday, March 1, 2021.

The two were injected with the vaccine on their left arm after which they were made to sit for about 10 minutes for monitoring.

The exercise was also replicated by the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and his wife, Samira Bawumia at the Police Hospital.

The exercise is aimed at boosting public confidence in the new vaccine procured for the citizens after weeks of debate about its safety, anticipated side-effects amid the country’s roll-out plan.

The government on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, at a brief ceremony, took delivery of 600,000 AstraZeneca doses as part of the World Health Organisation’s global vaccine-sharing programme. 

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Meanwhile, other key public officials, including the Speaker and Members of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court, Chairperson and Members of the Council of State, the Chief of Staff and senior officials at the Office of the President will take their doses on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.