Ghana to kick-start $20m measles, rubella vaccination campaign

Ghana is preparing for a measles and rubella (MR) immunization campaign costing about $20 million for children between the ages of nine months and 14 years.

According to officials, the free exercise is to protect children against the two diseases and to reduce infant mortality to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) four.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) at a press briefing announced 91% of the campaign cost will be funded by the GAVI Alliance and the rest by the Ghana government and its development partners including agencies under the United Nations.

The exercise is expected to kick-start in September 2013 and children will be given the MR vaccine free of charge, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reported August 27, 2013 citing health officials.

Rubella, also called German Measles, is a generally trivial infectious disease that has similar symptoms as measles. Like measles, Rubella can be transmitted from person to person when droplets containing the rubella virus discharged from a patient’s mouth or nose when he/she coughs or sneezes and are inhaled by another person.

Dr Antwi Agyei, Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) at the GHS, said the campaign has been brought forward to 2013 instead of 2014 and assured Ghanaians that the vaccine was safe and effective.

By Ekow Quandzie