Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has lauded partnerships that would help to eradicate polio in Ghana and attain Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
He commended Rotary International (RI) on its efforts in the fight to eliminate polio globally.
“We can’t relent as a country in our efforts to continue the partnership against polio which the Rotary Club of Accra-Airport is aptly propagating,” Dr Okoe Boye said, in Accra, at the 2023 edition of the polio fundraising breakfast meeting of the Rotary Club-Airport.
The event aimed to support Rotary Club International’s Polio Plus Project that provides communities with benefits beyond vaccination — such as clean water, medical treatments, bed nets and soap.
It aimed also to support the “Arise for Polio” initiative that serves as a platform for Rotary Club members, partners, donors from the Ghanaian business community and international organisations like UNICEF and the World Health Organization to come together in the fight against polio.
The event brought together individuals and organizations with a shared commitment to eradicating polio, a disease that has affected communities around the world. The Rotary Club of Accra Airport, in alignment with the global Rotary movement, is actively engaged in the battle against this debilitating illness, which continues to pose a threat to public health.
In a keynote speech read on his behalf by Mr Raymond Avinu, an official from the NHIA, Dr Okoe Boye described polio as “a very debilitating viral disease which has no cure and causes permanent irreversible paralysis or death in its victims, mostly children.
He recalled that between July 2019 and August 2020, a total of 31 children were paralysed from the disease in Ghana.
“So, although the African continent was declared polio-free in 2020, the NHIA agrees that we cannot be complacent.” Dr Okoe Boye stressed.
The NHIA CEO said the authority needs to embrace disease prevention activities, which the Polio Fund is earmarked for, rather than just the curative aspect of diseases.
Madam Peace Kwei-Rock said the ‘Arise for Polio’ campaign is a call to action, a rallying cry for communities, individuals, and organizations to join forces and finally rid the world of polio. She said the Rotary-Accra Airport, under her leadership and its dedicated members, has taken up this challenge with great enthusiasm.
She noted that the club has initiated a range of activities and fundraising efforts to support the campaign.
Polio is an illness caused by a virus that mainly affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain stem. In its most severe form, polio can lead to a person being unable to move certain limbs, also called paralysis. It can also lead to trouble breathing and sometimes death. The disease also is called poliomyelitis.
A vaccination effort throughout the world has led to only a small number of cases to occur around the world in recent years. But poliovirus still spreads within areas with low vaccination rates.
The Rotary-Accra Airport Club is renowned for its dedication to humanitarian efforts and philanthropic initiatives in Ghana. They have been instrumental in spearheading numerous projects to improve the lives of individuals in their community, and this latest campaign is no exception.
International has been at the forefront of this mission, tirelessly working to immunize children a
and strengthen healthcare systems in countries where polio is still a threat.
GNA