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Advocacy Moment: HFFG IAI consortium makes case for Immunization financing on International Day for Midwives
Like vaccines, midwives play effective role in keeping new-borns alive and free from preventable diseases. International Day of the Midwife (IDM) is recognized around the world as a celebration of Midwives and their contribution to women, new-borns and family care. The Ghana Registered Midwives Association (GRMA) and their global partners have annually organized special events to commemorate the International Day of the Midwife (IDM) on every 5th May to call for special attention to the work of midwives and midwifery services for improved reproductive, maternal and child health outcomes.
With the support from partners and stakeholders in Health, the 29th International Day of the Midwives (IDM) National Launch and webinar, was held from the Ministry of Health Auditorium on May 5th 2020 under the theme, “Midwives with women in this COVID-19 pandemic period: celebrate, demonstrate, mobilize, unite-our time is NOW.”
In attendance were the Deputy Minister of Health for Ghana, Dr Okoe Boye , Technical Director of the Ministry of Health Dr. Mrs Martha Gyansa Lutterodth, Dr. Dinah Baah-Odoom, Registrar of the Psychology Council, Mrs Eva Mensah Director Nursing and Midwifery, Ghana Health Service and media personnel among others.
The HFFG consortium for Immunization Advocacy Initiative, of which GRMA is a member seized this key moment to present a position paper on the status of immunization financing in Ghana. The Executive Director of HFFG , Cecilia Senoo, in her speech as the lead of the consortium highlighted the need to combine immunization with maternal health issues since the mother should not be decoupled from her baby.
She outlined three main recommendation to government as follows; to Sustain annual financing for immunization in the Government of Ghana National budget; To increase funding to sustain gains made on immunization funding; break the cycle of fluctuating the health budget and to progressively move the MOH share of the country total expenditure to a minimum of 15% per the Abuja declaration.
In conclusion, a call to action was outlined which ultimately projected a focus on increasing domestic financing for health with immunization as a priority. A total of about 40,000 audience viewed the live streaming of the event on Facebook.
The Immunization Advocacy Initiative (IAI) is a five-year project that seeks to seeks to strengthen and amplify local voices represented by civil society in Ghana on the right to equitable access to vaccines through increased domestic resourcing for immunization programs.