This comes three weeks after Citi News reported the shortage of the vaccines in the country following government’s indebtedness to the distributor, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

[contextly_sidebar id=”LePTsKFO1YpP7jGbzPXPuC5mWyq2ifD6″]However in an interview with Citi News’ Farida Shaibu, the National Programme Manager for immunization at the Ghana Health Service, Dr George Bonsu said distribution of the new stock commenced today.

“We took the delivery of the polio vaccines into the national cold room yesterday around 11:40pm. So we have made provisions to send them to the regions. We have enough stock to cover half a year so at least for the next six months we have enough suppliers for the country.”

When asked why only six months of stock were received, Dr. Bonsu explained that is the norm because “we cannot hold all at once so after this stock… we place an order so that by the time it’s finished the next one would have been in.”

“For Greater Accra, I can say for sure that today vaccines will be in their regional cold room and I have also tasked them to take it to the districts as soon as possible. There are no financial issues, at least vaccines for this year have fully been paid for,” he added.

The Government of Ghana earlier transferred about $10 million to UNICEF for the vaccines.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post Health Service begins distribution of polio vaccines appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This follows the shortage of the vaccines in the country over government’s indebtedness to UNICEF, the international body that distributes the vaccine across the globe.

The vaccines are usually administered to newborn babies to fight the deadly childhood diseases.

[contextly_sidebar id=”XPSl4aIvA55TQzoDk4kxXAL0iJ84TJ1Q”]Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, said Ghana will soon receive the supplies because of the payment.

“The fact is that, we get the polio vaccines procured for us through UNICEF. There was an outstanding bill from last year which was not paid. God being so good, just this week we have managed to clear that bill and as we speak now they will be airlifting the polio vaccines to the country.”

“The one that we are transferring is about 10 million dollars which we are going to use to get all the consignment we need for the next year or so, and we will then schedule and clear all the outstanding bills,” he added.

When asked whether the shortages could adversely affected babies and infants who needed it the most, Dr. Asare said they have put in place contingency measures in mitigating such occurrence.

“What we are doing to mitigate it is that; we call other districts and regions where they have stock, then we forward to places where the stock had gone low. So a day or two difference will not make much difference so we will sort it out I’m sure by the close of the week,” he assured.

Annual vaccine supply

The Director-General explained that, Ghana usually receives vaccine supply to last for about a year.

“We have yearly consumption; but the problem was that, we pay for the previous year’s outstanding bills and then also this year’s bills. It comes to the Central cold home at Korle Bu and we also send it to the regional centres and they also send it to the various districts. When I checked up the money has been released. Immediately the money has been transferred which we got a copy of the transfer yesterday [Tuesday], they will release the vaccines,” he added.

About Polio

Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus and mainly affects children under 5 years of age. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.

The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1 in 200 infections lead to irreversible paralysis. It adds that among those paralyzed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

WHO adds that failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.

In Ghana since the outbreak of polio in 2008, no such cases have been recorded in the country as of 2015.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Gov’t pays $10m for Polio, Measles vaccines appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This is because Ghana owed the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the international body that procures the vaccine, a huge sum of money.

The vaccines are usually administered to newborn babies to fight the deadly childhood diseases.

Confirming the shortage on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, the Director-General at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare said Ghana will soon receive such supplies because they have paid close to $10 million to UNICEF for the procurement of the vaccines.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1k5oNv2XFwCoHRh6nu7MhzhYudB1GnUn”]“The fact is that we get the polio vaccines procured for us through UNICEF. There was an outstanding bill from last year which was not paid. God being so good, just this week we have managed to clear that bill and as we speak now they will be airlifting the polio vaccine to the country.”

“The one that we are transferring is about 10 million dollars which we are going to use to get all the consignment we need for the next year or so and we will then schedule and clear all the outstanding bills,” he added.

When asked whether the shortages could adversely affect babies and infants who needed them the most, Dr. Asare said they have put in place measures to mitigate such issue.

“What we are doing to mitigate it is that we call other districts and regions where they have stock then we forward to places where the stock had gone low. So a day or two difference will not make much difference so we will sort it out I’m sure by the close of the week,” he assured.

Annual vaccine supply

The Director-General explained that Ghana usually receives vaccine supply that could last for about a year from UNICEF but would have to clear outstanding debts before receiving new consignment.

“We have yearly consumption but the problem was that we pay for the previous year’s outstanding bills and then also this year’s bills. It comes to the Central cold home at Korle Bu and we also send it to the regional centres and they are also send it to the various districts. When I checked up the money has been released. Immediately the money has been transferred which we got a copy of the transfer yesterday, they will release the vaccines,” he added.

About Polio

Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus and mainly affects children under 5 years of age. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.

The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1 in 200 infections lead to irreversible paralysis. It adds that among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

WHO adds that failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.

In Ghana since the outbreak of polio in 2008, no such cases have been recorded in the country as of 2015.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Polio, Measles vaccine shortage hit Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The West African country joins countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan as polio-endemic countries.

The three cases are the first to be detected in the country since July 2014.

Rotary has since provided $500,000 to immediately deal with the outbreak.

An emergency response plan has already been put into action in coordination with some stakeholders.

According to Michael McGovern, Chairman of the International PolioPlus Committee, “large-scale vaccination campaigns are ongoing across five countries in the Lake Chad basin to counter the outbreak. Despite these new cases, there has been significant progress toward ending polio in Nigeria, the rest of the African continent and globally in recent years.”

Nigeria alone accounted for more than half of the world’s polio burden in 2012 but succeeded in reversing the trend through strengthening surveillance, especially in insecure areas.

“We have proven strategies to stop new outbreaks quickly, even in insecure regions or areas made vulnerable by conflict, such as South Sudan and Syria,” Michael McGovern said in a statement issued on Thursday [September 29].

“These strategies will also overcome the outbreak in Nigeria. Rotary is committed to the eradication of polio, and we will continue to support our members, particularly those in Nigeria-who have worked so hard to help the country end polio. With your help, we can ensure that there is no remaining home for the virus,” he added.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nigeria reclassified as polio-endemic appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.