Covid-19 vaccination has recorded significant improvement in the Oforikrom Municipality following a partnership intervention project recently piloted in the area.
The project, christened: “Partnership to Accelerate Covid-19 Testing in Africa (PACT”, which ran from May 2021 to January 2022, involved intensive community sensitisation on the various preventive protocols, testing and vaccination.
A baseline study conducted in the municipality prior to the implementation of the project indicated 85 per cent vaccine hesitancy in the area, however, preliminary data at the end showed a total reduction to about 40 per cent.
This shows the municipality is among areas with the highest Covid-19 vaccination.
Community members, churches, social organisations and groups from the implementing areas in the municipality such as Ayigya, Kentinkrono, Nsenie, Bomso and Oforikrom are now calling for more vaccines to be administered.
The project was executed by the Millennium Promise Alliance together with Young Health Advocates Ghana and National Association of Persons Living with HIV, with funding from the United Nations Development Programme through the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
The PACT is implemented in six countries in Africa, whereas six districts and municipalities have been selected for the piloting in Ghana.
Mr Emmanuel Kojo Boahen, the Research and Evaluation Officer, Millennium Promise Alliance, at a close-out meeting of the pilot project at Oforikrom, said the focus was to engage communities, train them, and build capacities to control the spread of the virus.
The project was also aimed at linking testing with treatment, reducing stigma and addressing vaccine hesitancy in a bid to complement government’s activities in reducing community spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Mr Boahen commended the community health workers for the extensive education for households, marketplaces, churches and mosques to sensitise the people on the need to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols and get vaccinated to control spread.
He explained that although other targeted expectations were met, vaccine acceptance topped the achievements over the period under review.
Mr Enoch Quaye, an Assistant Director, Oforikrom Municipal Assembly and HIV Focal Person, said the districts were selected based on levels of Covid-19 cases reported, adding that the municipality had been one of the hotspots for the disease.
He, therefore, commended the project implementers and partners for the initiative and was hopeful that Oforikrom would be considered when the project was scaled up nationwide.
Mr Quaye pledged the Assembly’s support to NGOs and other sector agencies to handle the implementation to improve the health of the people.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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