GHS to roll out nationwide typhoid fever vaccination for food handlers

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is set to roll out a nationwide typhoid fever vaccination programme targeting food handlers as part of intensified efforts to curb the spread of the disease amid growing concerns over food-borne transmission.

According to the Service, the incidence of typhoid fever has increased over the years, with about 15,000 deaths recorded nationwide.

Addressing participants at a follow-up stakeholders’ meeting held in Accra yesterday, the Director of Public Health at the GHS, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, said typhoid fever remained endemic in Ghana and continued to pose serious public health risks, including severe complications and death.

He explained that food handlers had been prioritised because of their potential to transmit the disease to large numbers of people.

“Once you handle food, the extent of spread goes beyond the individual,” Dr Asiedu-Bekoe said, adding that the first phase of the programme would focus on food handlers in hotels, restaurants and the organised food and beverage industry.

The vaccination exercise, he said, would later be extended to markets and other informal food settings.

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe indicated that the programme would be implemented in phases and integrated into the health certification requirements for operating in the food industry, cautioning that food handlers who failed to receive the vaccine would not be permitted to operate.

He described vaccination as a more cost-effective intervention than the annual medical screening previously relied upon, noting that a single dose of the vaccine provides protection for up to three years.

Although the cost of the vaccine is yet to be announced, he said details would be made public by the Minister of Health in the coming weeks, stressing that participation in the programme would be mandatory in the interest of public safety.

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe further disclosed that the burden of typhoid fever was higher in the northern parts of the country, largely due to inadequate access to potable water and poor sanitation.

He, however, emphasised that vaccination alone would not be sufficient, calling for a multi-sectoral approach that includes improved water supply, sanitation and strengthened environmental health enforcement.

The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, urged stakeholders to demonstrate innovation, discipline and collective responsibility in strengthening Ghana’s health system, with a strong focus on preventive healthcare.

He said vaccination remained a critical tool in reducing the risk and severity of infection and should be embraced even as systems are gradually improved.

Dr Akoriyea assured stakeholders that the vaccines to be used were pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation and approved by the Food and Drugs Authority, while warning against misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.

He called on stakeholders to serve as ambassadors for health promotion, sanitation and behavioural change.

BY RAYMOND APPIAH-AMPONSAH

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