New vaccines for pneumonia, diarrhea

The Ghana Health Service has introduced two new vaccines for the cure and treatment of pneumonia and diarrhea in children.

The two vaccines are pneumococcal for pneumonia and rotavirus for diarrhea treatment.

Deputy Health Minister, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo who launched the new drugs in Accra, explained the introduction of the drugs was meant to reduce morbidity and mortality in the country's quest to meet targets set in the Millennium Development Goal five.

Ghana is among a few countries in the world to have introduced two vaccines at the same time.

He called for strict enforcement of sanitation laws, citing the recent cholera outbreak in Accra as a case of public health neglect.

The Acting Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Frank Nyonator was hopeful Ghana will reduce Child mortality by the expiration of the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals.

He guaranteed the safety of the two vaccines which are due for a roll-out in May this year when a national vaccination exercise against pneumonia and diarrhea is scheduled to take place.

An amount of $39 million dollars is expected to be spent on the nationwide exercise.