By James Amoh Jnr, GNA
Tema, Sept 28, GNA – Health workers and volunteers in the Tema West Municipality are wrapping up efforts at immunizing all children under age five against the Polio Virus.
Under round one of the Reactive Polio Vaccination Campaign, the Tema West Municipal Health Directorate joined other districts across the Greater Accra Region to vaccinate children against the virus and prevent an outbreak.
With barely a day to end this phase of the immunization exercise which is progressing steadily, Health workers doted across the municipality, during a monitoring and surveillance exercise by the Municipal Health Directorate and Assembly, were spotted administering doses of polio vaccines to children in schools and households.
At the Barbies Learning Centre in Lashibi, where the team first visited, children under five who had not been vaccinated at the time took turns to receive doses each of the polio vaccine.
Mrs Adwoa Amoako, Municipal Chief Executive, Tema West Municipal Assembly, who assisted the health workers to administer vaccines, commended the health directorate for its efforts in achieving a high coverage during the first phase of the exercise.
She said the Assembly considered health a priority and would ensure that the health needs of children were adequately met.
Dr Sally Quartey, Tema West Municipal Director, Ghana Health Service, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the country had made great strides towards the eradication of polio in the last decade with high immunization coverage.
She however noted that a polio case recently recorded in the Northern Region had necessitated the immunization campaign to ultimately prevent an outbreak of the disease.
According to Dr Quartey, in spite of the high coverage of 97.8 per cent recorded during the first phase of the campaign in the Municipality, there had been non-compliance by few parents and caregivers in some areas for fear of possible side effects.
She said the current campaign was a reactive and preventive one, adding that polio was an infectious viral disease and parents and caregivers were required to cooperate with health volunteers because the vaccines were very safe.
Mr Isaac Abrefa Busia, Head of Disease Control and Surveillance, Tema West Municipality, indicated that health workers including; coordinators, supervisors, vaccinators and volunteers who had undergone adequate training prior to the campaign, employed different social mobilization strategies in carrying out the exercise.
He indicated that with a target population of 27,679 children in Sakumono, Lashibi, Adjei Kojo, Baatsona and Halcrow, a total of 27,109 children under five years, representing 97.7 per cent were vaccinated in the municipality.
GNA
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