Ghana Proposes To Host IVI Africa Regional Office In Accra

The Ministry of Health has convened a meeting with the Director General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Prof. Jerome H Kim and his entourage to discuss Ghana’s proposal to host the IVI Africa Regional Office in Accra.

Discussions also bothered on Co—Host of Side Meeting at the 37th AU Session which comes off in February this year in Addis Ababa. There were also deliberations that focused on follow- up on Ghana’s membership of the IVI Council, IVI support for vaccine Research and Development and manufacturing in Ghana (and Africa).

Alhaji Hafiz Adam, Chief Director of the Ministry, who represented the Hon. Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, stated that the IVI has opened the floor for proposals from partners to host the IVI Africa Regional Office to which Ghana has submitted a proposal in response to this initiative.

The IVI plans to collaborate with the chosen host country to build consensus on the governance funding and project plans.

He also indicated that the IVI requests the approval of Ghana to co-sponsor a side event titled “Establishing a holistic ecosystem for sustainable regional vaccine manufacturing in Africa”. The side event ultimately aims to secure support and commitment from key stakeholders, fostering partnerships for successful end-to-end project-driven initiatives such as the Africa Vaccine Alliance Model towards building a sustainable and self-reliant future for vaccine production on the African continent.

Prof. William Ampofo, Board member and CEO of the National Vaccine Institute in his remarks, said the meeting is an important milestone in establishing a partnership of Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Ghana. “The EPI program has been a backbone of our vaccine roadmap to ensure that going forward, we will eventually be able to produce vaccines that will feed our EPI program”. he stated.

He said the program, led to the development of the policy of vaccine manufacturing in Ghana and through that, the national roadmap was developed.

Prof. Ampofo said the strategies of the road map were to establish local manufacturing plants by the private sector, to feed the manufacturing with local research and development, to build partnerships with the IVI, and also to establish the National Vaccine Institute.