Survey to assess vaccination coverage among children by GHS begins

 The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has commenced with a nationwide survey to assess vaccination coverage among children under five years across the country.

The exercise, spearheaded by the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) of the GHS, aims to validate the actual number of children who have received routine vaccines under the nation­al immunisation programme.

Spanning all 261 districts, the survey is expected to run until June 30, 2025, and will target ap­proximately 1.3 million children.

The data gathered is expected to provide an accurate picture of immunisation performance, identify under-vaccinated popula­tions, and support planning efforts to strengthen vaccination services nationwide.

At a press briefing in Accra last Thurs­day, the Acting EPI Programme Manager, Dr Selorm Kut­soati, em­phasised that no vac­cines would be administered during the exercise.

“This is purely a survey to verify our administrative data, identify coverage gaps, understand reasons for non-vaccination in some areas, and make recommendations to improve immunisation services,” he explained.

Dr Kutsoati noted that about 200 trained data collectors would be deployed for the survey.

“They will carry GHS-issued identification cards and official letters of authorisation,” she clarified.

Also speaking at the briefing, Deputy Programme Manager, Dr Naziru Tanko Mohammed, said the survey would allow the EPI to generate its own data to correct data inaccuracies from external sources.

“The last time we conducted such a survey was in 2017. Since then, we have relied on data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

This new exercise gives us an opportunity to collect our own up-to-date data to inform fu­ture vaccine distribu­tion,” he said.

 BY ABIGAIL ANNOH

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