Accra, Oct 27, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday reiterated government's commitment to mobilize the necessary resources towards the achievement of all Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
"I am gratified that adequate resources are being mobilized towards the measles immunization, since its elimination could subsequently help us achieve all the development goals, but we are equally doing everything possible to tackle other diseases for the same objective." Vice President Mahama announced these when he launched the National Mass Measles campaign slated to begin from November 3 to November 6.
The campaign which is expected to immunize about 4.3 million throughout the country is aimed at immunizing children between nine months and five years, would eradicate the disease in the coming years. Since 2003, no child has died from measles in the country, although there had been pockets of outbreaks during the same period of time.
The Vice President said child and maternal mortality which were militating against the progress and subsequent achievements of the MDGs would be tackled from all angles of governance and called on all development partners to marshal their resources collectively on health issues to avoid duplication.
"I am particularly happy that organizations such as UNICEF and World Health Organization were already contributing tremendously towards our national health campaign programmes and we shall continue to collaborate for better programmes." He called for adequate publicity on the national measles programme, which he said could encourage parents to send their children for the exercise. "Deaths or sickness for children in this era is unacceptable. Let us all do our best to ensure a successful campaign."
Dr. Nana Kwadwo Odei Antwi Adjei, Director of the Expanded Programme on Immunization who gave the overview of the disease recommended routine immunization to eliminate the intermittent outbreaks and the establishment of a measles case-based surveillance and laboratory confirmation. He also called for the establishment of an improvement case management of measles and second immunization for children that had already taken their first immunization at nine months to ensure complete eradication.
Dr. Iyabode Olusanmi, UNICEF representative in Ghana, commended the government of Ghana for fighting the disease to the current stage and called for concerted efforts from government and partners to achieve all health goals by 2015. She called on the media and sponsors to highlight on the importance of the exercise for people, particularly in the rural areas, to participate in it to completely eradicate the disease.
