In the bid to improve public trust in vaccines and reduce health misinformation, the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health has begun a new initiative of training queen mothers to serve as vaccine ambassadors in their communities.
The initiative brings together revered female traditional leaders from across the country who will now champion vaccine education in thousands of Ghanaian communities.
As Ghana continues efforts to boost immunization coverage, queen mothers are being enlisted as powerful advocates for vaccine awareness.
The Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health is training these respected traditional leaders to educate their communities on the importance of vaccines and dispel long-standing myths that have hindered uptake.
According to National Vice Chairman of the Coalition, Ninsau Darku Alazer, queen mothers were deliberately selected because of the authority and trust they command.
“Queen mothers are people we believe carry the tradition, they carry the authority and also carry respect. When they approach any person, whether man, woman or child about any health related issue, they will pay attention to them than a health worker,” he noted.
The project is expected to reach over 10,000 communities in 100 districts. Queen mothers will be supported with funds to help them move between towns and lead health-focused engagements.
“They are going to work in about 100 districts in the whole country in 10,000 communities. Every district has 10 health centers. We gave a baseline for routine immunization and we expect that with their efforts and addition, at the end of the project, we will give them some small funding, to carry out the job, the mobility, and travels to give talks here and there,” he said.
Queen mother of Bekwai, Nana Adwoa Pinaman, said she came to the realization that traditional methods once used in her community were harmful after the training sessions.
“They started this program about 3 years ago. It has really helped us because back then, measles killed babies. We used to give them ‘akpeteshi’ and ‘nyamedua’ and they end up dying. But when we started this, all that stopped,” she stated.
From the Savannah Region, Hajia Dr. Kansawurche Zara Bukari shared feedback from her region.
“You can see that the women are now receiving it well. At first, due to misconceptions that if you immunize your child, the child will be sick, some may even die. But going forward, now we can see that there is great improvement in the immunization coverage as far as my region is concerned,” she expressed.
In addition to this grassroots mobilization, the Coalition plans to train 500 Community Information Centres to fight misinformation on air, especially in local dialects.
“When false information is shared on those platforms, it’s believed instantly. So, we need them trained to speak truth backed by health facts,” Mr. Alazer emphasized
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