Bolgatanga, March 13, – Childhood immunization in the Upper East
Region has over the past three years consistently declined and immediate action
is needed to reverse the trend, Dr Winfred Ofosu, the Upper East Regional
Director of Health Services, has said.
“Immunization remains one of the
most effective interventions globally for the control of infectious diseases
and if swift remedial action is not taken to vaccinate all eligible children,
the accumulated unvaccinated children over the years, would constitute a huge
susceptible population for epidemics of vaccine preventable diseases”, he said.
Dr Ofosu said the Region recorded
87.2 per cent coverage in 2015; in 2016
the figure recorded was 79.2 per cent; and 78.7 per cent occurred in 2017,
adding that the “District coverage for immunization in 2017 ranged from only
53.3 per cent in the Kassena Nankana Municipal to 107 per cent in the Pusiga
District.”
Dr Ofosu was speaking at a
two-day meeting of the 2017 Health Performance Review of the Region held under
the theme: “Building Sustainable Partnerships for Strengthening Health Systems
to Achieve Universal Health Coverage.”
The meeting attracted health professionals
from all thirteen Districts of the Region, officials from the Ministry of
Health, and the Brong Ahafo Regional Health Directorate, municipal and district
chief executives, religious and traditional leaders.
Dr Ofosu said improved maternal
and child health remains a national priority adding that antenatal care
coverage increased from 76 per cent in 2016 to 77.1 per cent in 2017 with 51.1
per cent of registrants reporting for care during the first the first three
months of pregnancy.
He said skilled delivery declined
over the last three years from 74.2 per cent in 2015 to 70.1 per cent in 2016
and 69.8 per cent in 2017, while maternal deaths increased from 30 in 2015 to
36 in 2016 and 44 in 2017.
“Neonatal death rate increased
from 2.0 per 1000 in 2016 to 7.7 per 1000 Live Births (LB) in 2017. Favourably,
stillbirth rate declined from 1.6 in 2016 to 1.3 per 1000 LB in 2017. The
region continues to record high adolescent pregnancies, and in 2017 a total of
16.5 per cent of registered pregnancies were adolescents aged 10 – 19 years,”
he said.
Dr Ofosu said the Region has made
good progress in malaria control, because the proportion of suspected malaria
cases tested before treatment increased from 86.4 per cent in 2016 to 93.8 in
2017; while fatality rate for children under five years declined consistently
from 0.72 per cent in 2015 to 0.51 and 0.3 per cent in 2016 and 2017
respectively.
He said 144 suspected meningitis
cases were recorded in 2017 and 44 cases were confirmed.
Mr Frank Fuseini Adongo, the
Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, said the chosen theme for the event
highlighted an important area, “by the agreed Universal Health Coverage (UHC),
and is working towards ensuring access to quality healthcare services and safe,
effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all by
the year 2030.”
He said the target under goal
three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was “definitely ambitious and
multi-tasking. A host of stakeholders or partners are required to provide the
finances, human capital, ownership and coordination among others to realize the
target.”
GNA
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