Health
Dr Bawumia: Agenda 111 to bridge 60yr gap in access to health
Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says Agenda 111, is the result of government’s determination to close the gaping lack of access to healthcare facilities, especially in remote areas of the country.
Inspecting progress of work done on dozens of new hospitals under construction across the country, Dr Bawumia said this is the first time a concerted effort has been made to ensure that every Ghanaian, irrespective of where they live, has access to a quality health facility within a relatively short distance.
He was speaking at Bunkprugu in the North East Region where he inspected the progress of work.
“The Agenda 111 Project is to bridge a 60 year gap in access to health facilities across the country. 90 districts in our country do not have District Hospitals.
“Six Regions do not have Regional Hospitals. Large parts of our country do not have access to Specialist hospital facilities and services. This is despite over 60 years of being Independent.
“So the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took the bold decision to build these hospitals and meet the health care needs of the people of Ghana, to ensure that every District has a hospital and every Region has a Regional Hospital.
“This will greatly increase access to health care, prevent avoidable, preventable deaths and reduce the suffering of our people,” he added.
Dr Bawumia had earlier inspected ongoing works at Savelugu and Yendi, both in the Northern Region, as part of the first leg of his working visit to the five northern regions of Ghana.
He was accompanied by Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, Presidential Adviser on Health, Hon Ambrose Dery, Minister for the Interior, and other government officials.
Barriers to access healthcare
Inadequate health facilities, long distances to reach them, lack of effective and efficient transportation systems remain barriers to access healthcare in Ghana.
90 districts without hospitals
It is shocking that 90 districts in the country do not have district hospitals.
Scope of Agenda 111 projects
The Agenda 111 project involves the construction and/or upgrading of 101 district hospitals, construction of six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
Construction work ongoing on 87 projects
The Mid-Year Review Budget revealed that construction work is ongoing at 87 out of the 111 sites earmarked for the Agenda 111 project.
To address this injustice, the government decided to build 111 hospitals across the country.
Breakdown of the projects
The project involves the construction of 100-bed 101 District Hospitals, 160-bed six Regional Hospitals in newly created regions, one Regional Hospital in the Western Region, 90-bed Psychiatric Hospitals in Kumasi and Tamale, Rehabilitation of Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi and the Redevelopment of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
Regional breakdown of district hospitals
The Regional breakdown of district hospitals are; Ashanti-10, Volta-9, Eastern-8, Greater Accra-7, Upper East-7, Oti-5, Upper West-5, Bono-5, Western North-5, Savanna-3, Bono East-2 and North East- 2.
Staff accommodation
All hospitals shall have a compliment of staff accommodation.
$17.60m as cost for each district hospital
Each of the hospitals would be built at the cost of $12.8 million and another $4.8 million would be spent to equip them bringing the total cost of each of the hospitals to $17.60 million.
On Tuesday, August 17, 2021 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the commencement of the construction of the Trede District Hospital in the Atwima Kwanwoma district of the Ashanti Region.
25,000 employment construction phase
It is estimated that 25,000 people will be employed during the design and construction phase of the 111 hospital providing direct jobs to architects, masons, carpenters and other construction workers in the country.
20,000 health professionals to be employed
Once completed, about 20,000 health professionals including doctors, specialists, nurses and other allied health workers will be employed thus reducing the unemployment rate in the country.
Unparalleled opportunity to transform healthcare system
The District Hospitals under the Agenda 111 programme presents an unparalleled opportunity to transform the country’s health care system creating a new standard on the continent.
Access to quality healthcare services
The objective of this project as envisioned by the President is to ensure that Ghanaians in every district and region in the country have access to quality healthcare services.
Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3
The proposed project will boost the provision of healthcare infrastructure in line with the government’s commitment to ensuring universal health care to all citizens and attainment of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3).
It will further be a fulfillment of the government’s policy of a hospital in each district and region and improve the geographical coverage of healthcare delivery in the country, as well as offer improved access to healthcare for all Ghanaians.
In the process, the outcome will also come with a model of accelerated construction of health facilities developed for future health projects.
On completion, this venture will be the largest investment in healthcare infrastructure in the country since independence.
Never before in the annals of this country’s health infrastructure development has universal access to good and affordable healthcare been so strategically envisioned.
- National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions – 15 March 2023
- Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana – 14 March 2023
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The Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have received the first consignment of Measles vaccines, Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccines and Oral Polio Vaccines.
The Ministry of Information in a statement said distribution to various regions and facilities was underway.
It noted that more vaccines are expected in Ghana in the coming weeks from multiple sources.
“More vaccines expected in Ghana in the coming weeks from multiple sources,” the Information Ministry added.
It shared pictures of the GHS receiving the vaccines at the airport noting that they have already begun distributing them to various regions and facilities.
The ministry also shared photos of regional cold vans picking their consignments of the Measles, BCG and Oral Polio vaccines received and its accompanying logistics at the National Cold Room in Accra.
Ghana ran out of essential BCG and OPV vaccines as a result of the Ministry of Health’s failure to secure procurement of these vaccines since the year began.
The BCG vaccine is primarily needed to prevent the occurrence of tuberculosis in babies, while the OPV is to prevent polio infections
Other essential vaccines to prevent diseases such as measles, whooping cough, etc. are also in short supply.
Answering to parliament on the shortages, Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu said that more than $6 million has been paid to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to deliver baby vaccines.
According to him, the government expects the shortage to end in the next three weeks when all the vaccines are delivered.
Whilst urging the Legislators to approve funds needed for vaccines, he assured that shortages will not reoccur
“The assurance I will give and I can give for the first time in the Chamber is that this will not happen again and I will advise that you help me in my advocacy to get adequate funding for vaccines even the health insurance budget,” he appealed.
- National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions – 15 March 2023
- Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana – 14 March 2023
- Dr Akoto: With right investment in agric, Ghana will not need IMF – 14 March 2023
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has assured parents of children who are yet to receive their scheduled vaccines due to the vaccine shortage currently being experienced in the country that the country will take delivery of these vaccines in the next few weeks.
He gave this assurance at an emergency press briefing organised to address the raging issue which has seen many worried parents moving from facility to facility in a desperate search for the crucial vaccines.
The Minister in his address stated that the nation is currently facing a shortage of some vaccines.
He said, “it is true we have had some vaccine shortages in the country since the last quarter of 2022. The vaccines in short supply are BCG, Measles-Rubella (MR), and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). This shortage is nationwide.”
Agyemang-Manu however assured that “the Ministry of Health has been making efforts to ensure we secure adequate stocks of vaccines despite this global challenge.”
He went further to state that, “we have made all necessary efforts to ensure that despite these challenges we secure adequate stocks within the next few weeks.”
He disclosed that the country has not recorded deaths caused by measles outbreak in parts of the country.
The Health Minister indicated that there had been no recorded measles-related deaths in the country in the last 20 years, even though there have been sporadic outbreaks.
He further indicated that besides the shortage of vaccines, there had been a global decline in vaccinations with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019.
He said, “the recent shortage in vaccines for measles, as regrettable as it is, is symptomatic of the steady global decline in measles vaccination since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.”
Agyemang-Manu however assures the citizenry that the nation’s vaccination coverage remains robust, with immunization performance coverage being among the best in the world.
According to him, “in 2021 we recorded 95% [vaccine] coverage.”
In recent months there has been a desperate scramble among worried parents of toddlers over the apparent shortage of vaccines for the six childhood killer diseases in the nation’s pharmacies and hospitals.
This coupled with an outbreak of the measles-rubella virus has left parents worrying about the safety of their children.
- National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions – 15 March 2023
- Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana – 14 March 2023
- Dr Akoto: With right investment in agric, Ghana will not need IMF – 14 March 2023
Zipline, the world’s first and only national-scale drone delivery service has delivered some 14.8 million (14,809,463) units of lifesaving medical, vaccines and blood products to health facilities in Ghana as at the end of 2022
309,000 delivery flights
These items were delivered through 309,000 separate delivery flights.
4.4m units delivered
The total units delivered amounted to 4.4 million.
8.3m doses of childhood vaccines
Childhood vaccines top the list with the delivery of 8.3 million doses.
2.05m doses of COVID-19 vaccines
It is followed by COVID-19 vaccines which recorded 2.05 million doses.
48,588 doses of malaria vaccines
The company delivered 48,588 doses of malaria vaccines during the period
10,875 pints of blood
Some 10,875 blood units were also delivered during the period.
6 Zipline distribution centers
The six Zipline distribution centers delivers lifesaving medical, vaccines and blood products to over 2,500 health facilities.
Zipline introduced in April 2019
Ghana integrated Zipline’s medical drone delivery service into its health supply chain in April 2019 with an initial support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UPS Foundation and other partners.
Instant access to health commodities
Zipline enables instant access to hundreds of health commodities for thousands of health facilities across the country.
Autonomous drones
This marked the first time in history that autonomous drones have been used to make regular long-range deliveries into densely populated urban areas.
Zipline reaches half the population
Zipline’s current network in Ghana can reach up to half the population.
Life-saving care
All too often, people requiring life-saving care do not get the medicine they need when they need it.
Reduce medical waste
To increase access and reduce medical waste, key stock of blood products, vaccines, and life-saving medications are stored at Zipline’s base for just-in-time delivery.
Health workers place orders
Health workers place orders by text message or call and promptly receive their deliveries in 30 minutes on average.
Drones deliver the orders
The drones take off from and land at Zipline’s base, requiring no additional infrastructure or manpower at the clinics they serve.
Each drone can carry 1.8 kilos of cargo
The drones fly autonomously and can carry 1.8 kilos of cargo, cruising at 110km an hour, and have a round trip range of 160km—even in high-speed winds and rain.
How Zipline works
Each week, a single Zipline distribution centre – a combination of medical fulfilment warehouse and drone airport – is capable of the on-demand delivery of more than two tonnes of temperature-controlled medicine to any point across an almost 8,000 square mile service area.
30 to 45 minutes deliveries
Each aircraft can fly 100 miles round trip, in strong winds and rain, day or night, to make on-demand deliveries in 30 to 45 minutes on average.
Zipline’s drones have flown more than five million autonomous miles to deliver more than 1.5 million doses of vaccines, units of blood, and critical and life-saving medications to more than a thousand health facilities serving more than 25 million people across three countries.
Zipline in United States
In the United States, Zipline has partnered with a leading healthcare system, Novant Health, on the country’s first drone logistics operation by a hospital system for pandemic response.
To date, Novant Health has utilised Zipline to make contactless drone distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline medical teams around Charlotte, North Carolina.
Zipline operating in Kaduna and Cross River States in Nigeria
Zipline recently commenced medical delivery services in Kaduna and Cross River States in Nigeria as its footprint grows across Africa.
Set to begin commercial operations in Côte D’Ivoire and Kenya
The company is set to begin commercial operations in Côte D’Ivoire and Kenya this week bringing to five countries in Africa to have adopted the technology.
- National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions – 15 March 2023
- Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana – 14 March 2023
- Dr Akoto: With right investment in agric, Ghana will not need IMF – 14 March 2023
National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions
Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana
Dr Akoto: With right investment in agric, Ghana will not need IMF
Police nab 6 in connection with killing of soldier in Ashaiman
National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions
Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana
Dr Akoto: With right investment in agric, Ghana will not need IMF
Police nab 6 in connection with killing of soldier in Ashaiman
National honours conferred on COVID-19, ITLOS champions
Misinformation undermining democracy, eroding gains in Ghana
Dr Akoto: With right investment in agric, Ghana will not need IMF
Police nab 6 in connection with killing of soldier in Ashaiman
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