IA2030 Case study 13. Pharm. Daniel Kwesi Ekwam. Covering all the bases

This case study is part of a series shining a light on the experiences of immunization and primary healthcare staff working at different levels of national immunization programmes in low- and middle-income countries. The people featured are all taking part in the IA2030 Movement peer learning programme organized by the Geneva Learning Foundation (LinkedIn | YouTube | Twitter | Podcast). Taking a systematic approach is critical to build take up of COVID-19 vaccination and use of other vaccines. “I am currently a pharmacist at the regional hospital in Wa, northern Ghana, but before that I spent 14 years working at the district level. I’m responsible for the safety and availability of medicines in the hospital, but my responsibilities go much wider than that. They include regional pharmacovigilance, I’m part of the technical working group for logistics in the region, and I contribute to the programme management for all vaccines and medicines in the region. I’m also a facilitator and monitor across multiple activities across the region and country. One of our main zero-dose challenges relates mainly to climate factors. For example, in my previous district, during the rainy season, some communities become cut off. It’s impossible for health workers to get to them. We worked with communities to find ways to overcome these challenges. For example, we extended activities during the dry season to make up for the disruption in services for a month or so during the rains. In addition, some of the affected communities use their small fishing canoes to transport vaccinators, and other community members built canoes that community nurses and volunteers could use to reach cut-off communities. These activities are possible because people have very positive attitudes to immunization and want their communities to be protected. It’s a real partnership – some community health nurses even go and stay within the communities during the rainy season so they are always available to provide help, and opinion leaders of the communities put them up in their homes or facilitate their comfortable stay. This is all based on strong community engagement, which is built into our system and helps to ensure high levels of trust between healthcare workers and communities. When people join the health system, they undergo extensive training on community engagement, including sensitization and mobilization. You become very close to communities and jointly plan activities with them. Mothers, fathers, religious leaders, teachers, community-based organizations – everyone works together. This Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) case study is part of the IA2030 Movement’s Knowledge-to-Action Hub. Learn more about the Hub… Learn more about the Movement