Dr Charity Binka urges stronger media capacity to boost vaccine confidence and uptake in Ghana

Dr Charity Binka, Executive Secretary of the African Media and Research Malaria Network (AMMREN), has underscored the critical role of the media in shaping public trust and driving vaccine uptake across Ghana.

Speaking during a webinar organised by the National Vaccine Institute on the theme “Strengthening Vaccine Communication in Ghana,” she said misinformation, hesitancy, and limited understanding continue to impede progress in immunisation campaigns. Strengthening communication strategies and equipping journalists with accurate, science-based information, she noted, is essential to improving vaccine administration nationwide.

Dr Binka said the media remained one of the most trusted partners in public health advocacy, stressing that “building media capacity in vaccine uptake is therefore an investment in national health security.”

She further emphasised the importance of Ghana producing its own vaccines, describing local vaccine manufacturing as a matter of survival, sovereignty, and resilience. Domestic production, she said, would guarantee timely access, create jobs, grow scientific expertise, and position Ghana as a regional hub for health innovation. The COVID-19 pandemic, she added, exposed Ghana’s vulnerability to external supply chains.

Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, called for a multi-faceted national approach, including increased funding, stronger infrastructure, community engagement, and targeted messaging to address rumours and myths that undermine vaccine confidence.

He noted that Ghana’s public health system has long served as the first line of defence against pandemics and remains central to a resilient healthcare structure. Immunisation, he said, continues to be one of the most effective tools for protecting children and reducing mortality.

Providing updates on Ghana’s immunisation achievements, Dr Selorm Kutsoati, Acting Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), highlighted several milestones:

• Neonatal Tetanus was eliminated in 2011.
• No reported wild polio case since 2008.
• No measles-related death was recorded between 2003 and 2021.
• No meningitis cases caused by Neisseria meningitides A following the 2012 campaign and its 2016 integration into routine immunisation.

He added that strengthened health systems contributed to the reduction of under-five mortality from 111 per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 40 per 1,000 live births in 2022.

The speakers collectively called for sustained investment, coordinated messaging, and stronger partnerships to build public trust and secure Ghana’s immunisation gains