By Yussif Ibrahim
Kumasi, May 17, GNA-As Ghana marks this year’s Child Health Promotion Week, the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate is encouraging parents and caregivers to immunise children between 0-59 months against childhood diseases.
The Directorate is particularly reminding parents whose children may have missed a dose or two of the childhood vaccines to visit any public health facility and immunise them.
The Child Health Promotion Week was instituted in 2004 by the Ministry of Health to raise awareness and promote the uptake of essential child services to improve the health of children and their survival.
It is also used to raise awareness about topical issues related to the health and survival of infants and children under five.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Healthy Childhood: Invest in Your Child for a Better Future.”
Ghana commemorates Child Health Promotion Week jointly with Africa Vaccination Week, and the goal is to strengthen the country’s immunisation programme by raising awareness of the value and importance of immunisation as well as community ownership.
To generate demand for the week-long activities, the Directorate has been engaging in media awareness creation to whip up public interest.
Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said everyone had a role to play in supporting child health interventions in the country.
He said vaccinating the children protected them from Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) and reduced serious illness, complications and deaths.
According to the Regional Director, immunising children against childhood diseases was a way of lowering healthcare costs by reducing the burden of treating preventable diseases, while increasing overall community and global health and well-being.
He said the vaccines were generally safe and effective, and urged mothers and caregivers to promptly ensure children under their care did not miss any dose.
GNA