GAVI said that Ghana has become the first African country to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines at the same time. In Ghana, these diseases, together, account for approximately 20% of the country’s under-five child mortality. Ghana’s First Lady H.E. Dr Ernestina Naadu Mills was joined by the country’s Minister of Health Hon. M Alban S. K. Bagbin, GAVI Alliance CEO Dr Seth Berkley, WHO Deputy Director General Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, UNICEF Country Representative Dr Iyabode Olusanmi, and other international guests at a special ceremony in Accra, where the first doses of the vaccines were administered to children. Health Minister Hon. Alban S. K. Bagbin said, “Our children have been dying from these vaccine-preventable diseases for too long, but this moment begins a major fight back. With these vaccines, we want to, and we will, achieve MDG4, the two-thirds reduction of our child mortality by 2015.”
26 April 2012
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 