 vaccination at birth starting in October of this year, according to Dr. Kwame Amponsah-Achiano, the Ex){kind=link}
All newborns will receive a Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccination at birth starting in October of this year, according to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Programme Manager, Dr. Kwame Amponsah-Achiano.
He said the vaccine would be given within 24 hours and was intended to help reduce the spread of HBV from mother to child.
In order to give stakeholders the chance to contribute significantly to the government’s implementation of the Hepatitis B birth dose program, Dr. Amponsah-Achiano made this statement yesterday at a National Hepatitis B birth dose stakeholders forum that was held in Accra.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana co-hosted the forum. He clarified that the Ghana Health Service’s (GHS) commitment to fight Hepatitis B, enhance public health, and accomplish more general health objectives by 2030 included the Hepatitis B birth dose program.
Additionally, according to Dr. , the government was ready to implement the 24-hour HBV vaccination program for newborns.
As the nation moves away from Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) vaccine support by 2030, he said, the Ministry of Health recently created a plan to guarantee Ghana self-finances its immunisation programs.
The government has revised the nation’s immunisation policy and the EPI Field Guide to include Hepatitis B birth dose vaccines, according to Dr. Amponsah-Achiano.
He added that the application submitted to GAVI for the introduction of “Hepatitis B birth dose into routine immigration programs” had been approved, and that the government had updated data recording and reporting tools at the Ministry of Health to reflect the Hepatitis B birth dose vaccination.
“Hepatitis B vaccine is not new, but what we are introducing now is the one that we will give to a child who is newly born so that we can prevent the mother-to-child transmission.
It’s been on the drawing board for many years, but fortunately, we have the green light to bring it on board to complete the recommendation of three doses minimum by the World Health Organisation, including the birth dose,” Dr Amponsah-Achiano meantioned.
In a speech read on his behalf by Dr. Joseph Adjetey Oliver-Commey, Managing Director of the Ghana Infectious Disease Centre, Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), emphasised the value of vaccination in ensuring that the nation minimised mother-to-child HBV transmission.
In order to accomplish the goals of vaccinating infants against HBV and preventing the virus from being passed from mother to child, Professor Akoriyea also emphasised the necessity for the nation to prioritise capacity-building and make use of its combined knowledge and resources.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Najat Adamu