Pay attention to data for Equitable Health Policy Development – GLOMEF CEO to govt

The Founder and CEO of the Global Media Foundation, Mr. Raphael Godlove Ahenu Jnr have observed that, in order to improve equity and ultimately reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortalities, data-driven decision-making and evidence-based planning are crucial to channel the limited health resources to the targeted population.

He was with the view that strategic use of data is very crucial in order to inform equitable policy development, mobilize stakeholders to identify and solve key barriers to achieving equitable health outcomes and strengthen health system performance at all levels, particularly for vulnerable populations.

At a press briefing, Mr. Ahenu Jnr said, even though Ghana has made prodigious advancement in vaccination coverage, there are still considerable challenges to achieving universal coverage of child immunization in Ghana as a whole.

The barriers, he mentioned include inadequate public education, distance to facilities, poorly trained and motivated human resources, poor and inaccessible road network and inadequate health personnel as well as the lack of accommodation for staff, especially those in deprived districts.

According to statistics, deaths from measles, a major child killer, declined by 73 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2018 preventing an estimated 23.2 million deaths and as of 2019, an estimated 14 million infants were still not reached by vaccination services.

As such, there exists an urgent need to achieve universal coverage of full immunization as a mechanism to achieve the child mortality target of the SDG 3.

Mr. Ahenu noted that, in order to address the stagnation and inequities at the different levels of the health delivery system, it is imperative to identify area-specific barriers and bottlenecks affecting efforts of reaching every child with life-saving vaccines.

He, therefore, called for an innovative way of empowering community women and girls through gender-focused immunization programming approaches and accelerate the rollout of the HPV vaccine to girls.

According to the CEO, timely vaccination of children is a proven method for saving lives from vaccine-preventable diseases which can also help attain the Sustainable Development Goal 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.

He was of the view that in order to achieve improved coverage of immunization and reduction of child mortality, four supply chain elements are essential.

They are skilled and competent supply chain managers, efficient data to aid planning and decision-making and efficient design of the distribution system of vaccines and cold chain equipment, and ensuring a continuous process of improvement over time.

Mr. Ahenu noted that sufficient, well-functioning and well-maintained cold chain equipment plays a vital role in the delivery of quality and accessible immunization services.

Challenges facing the District Health Directorates in Ghana

The CEO identified a number of challenges facing deprived districts in their quest to provide improved and accessible quality health care delivery to the citizens, especially children. The challenges he mentioned include poor road network, inadequate health facilities, and limited key health personnel to provide efficient health service, lack of access to staff residential accommodation.

According to him, despite all those challenges health personnel and volunteers provide outreach health services in remote areas in the district with support from the Health Centres.

Mr. Ahenu was full of praise to the health personnel working in the district for their dedication and commitment to providing efficient and quality health care delivery to the people in the district especially during immunization despite poor working conditions.

Appeal for Support

The CEO made a passionate appeal to NGOs, philanthropists, and corporate institutions to come to the aid of the district to help them provide quality healthcare services, especially during immunization.

He said engaging the community at the grassroots level to ensure accountability and local ownership of immunization exercise is paramount.

“No child should die from a preventable cause, and all children should be able to reach their full potential in health and well-being, therefore we are doing everything within our power to reach every child in Ghana and we need your support,” he said.