The Defense Against AIDS Poverty and Underdevelopment {DAAPU} and its major partner, NIYEL West Africa, said that this year’s World Polio Day, with the slogan “Make Polio History,” is an opportunity to reaffirm commitment to ultimately abolishing polio.
Despite tremendous advancements in the fight against polio, there are still issues that need to be addressed.
According to a press release from DAAPU, as community demand for vaccinations rises, the government and its allies must make significant investments to ensure that there are enough vaccines on hand to meet the need.
It also demanded that the Ministry of Finance, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, and the Government of Ghana prioritize child immunization.
In order to enable sufficient vaccine procurement and prompt distribution for higher immunization uptake, additional funding should be provided to the Ministry of Health via the Ghana Health Services.
Ghana has not seen an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus 2 (cVDPV2) since 2021, but the country is still susceptible to reinfection and must thus continue efforts to generate vaccine demand, according to the release.
It urges caregivers and parents to take charge by regularly bringing all children under five to medical facilities to receive vaccinations.
