Ghana's children given hope by rollout of new rotavirus vaccine

Gavi and the Government of Ghana are the deployment of vaccines against diarrhea and pneumonia, a serious threat to children under five years

Independence Square In Accra, he cries like a few drops of liquid is pressed into her mouth, followed closely by a crowd of journalists and officials. The child is the first in Ghana to receive a new vaccine against rotavirus - designed to protect children against a major cause of fatal diarrhea and dehydration. The woman administering the vaccine is not a nurse or health worker, but the first lady of Ghana, Ernestina Naadu Mills.

Mills was the guest speaker at the launch of the last great choreography achievement of GAVI - Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization - bringing together the World Health Organization, the United Nations Fund for Children World Bank, civil society, the vaccine industry, research organizations and technology, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.

Gavi, which raises funds and promotes the development of new vaccines for developing countries, worked with the government of Ghana to organize the launch of the vaccine against rotavirus, and with great success, a new vaccine against pneumococcal disease, making Ghana the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to introduce two new vaccines at the same time.

two vaccines are expected to save thousands of lives. Rotavirus, which causes gastroenteritis, can lead to severe dehydration and kill more than 2,000 children each year in Ghana, representing 40% of all deaths related to diarrhea. Diarrhea and pneumonia, the most common form of serious pneumococcal disease, Ghana each representing 10% of deaths among children under five.

"Ghana is showing the way. Here we have the ability, confidence level, and locally grown and maintained infrastructure is needed, "said Lord Paul Boateng, a member of the House Lords in the United Kingdom, who was born in Ghana and traveled the countries to attend the launch of vaccines.

Ghana GAVI considered capable of introducing vaccines against pneumococcus and rotavirus in a huge vote of confidence in the ability of countries to establish a "cold chain". The cold chain is critical to the ability to administer vaccines, which require a uniform system to keep the vaccines at a temperature of 2-8C.

In Koforidua, the capital of the eastern region of Ghana, the installation of vaccination in the region of cold storage has been upgraded from a room full of high-tech refrigerators cabin, cold room - a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Emelia Okai D, the fight against the disease responsible for the region, which covers the installation, tells you everything you need now is a cool truck, then they can offer vaccines to health centers in subdistricts.

But power outages cause problems. "We have all cuts of a week, sometimes twice a week," said Okai. "We have a generator that has a manual switch so that we are always ready -. If this is not [pause], there is always a person responsible for starting the generator. "

• access to health care

Although new vaccines, access to health care remains a major problem for rural communities, with only 50% of children under five who are taken to a health care provider sufficient, and only 60% of infants under six months are exclusively breastfed.

Asenema Community Health Planning Unit in the Northern District Akuapim on the outskirts of Accra, has no electricity and store vaccines in refrigerators run on gas. A unit of solar panel sits on the floor near the gas cylinders -. The nurses explained that was provided by a Dutch company, but nobody came to log

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