GHANA – Ghana has received 309,600 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Japanese Government to support the ongoing mass COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

The Deputy Minister of Health Madam Tina Gifty Naa Ayele Mensah received the donated vaccines from the Ambassador of Japan to Ghana Mr. Mochizuki Hisanobu after arriving in Accra, Ghana.

The AstraZeneca vaccines worth US$1.24 million were manufactured in Japan to contribute equal access to COVID-19 vaccines by donating approximately 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa.

Mr. Mochizuki Hisanobu said the donation was in fulfilment of a pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit on December 7th 2021 to aid the ongoing efforts in inoculating the people against COVID-19.

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Japan has cooperated with relevant international organizations like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to finance numerous activities aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 in communities,” the Ambassador further said.

Japan has provided support in revamping the cold chain system to ensure an effective and efficient response in deploying COVID-19 vaccines as well as provision of six thermography systems which have been installed at various airports in the country to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan has implemented several health-related projects through the Economic and Social Development Programme such as partnering with international organizations on projects to ensure the strengthening of community health systems during and post-COVID-19 pandemic,” added Mr. Mochizuki.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on not only immediate health risks but also other challenges including malnutrition, food shortage and other conventional health challenges in African societies.

He reaffirmed that the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development which will be held on 27th and 28th August 2022 will an opportunity to further strengthen Japan-Africa cooperation to overcome the health challenges exposed by COVID-19 and to realize human security in Africa.

Zipline helps Ghana deliver 1 million COVID-19 vaccines

Meanwhile, Zipline, the global leader in instant logistics, and the Ghana Ministry of Health have announced that they have delivered one million COVID-19 vaccine doses via Zipline’s automated, on-demand delivery system.

A recent report funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation shows significant increases in the availability, reliability and range of inventory at health facilities since Zipline’s system addressed supply chain challenges such as lack of visibility, uncertain demand forecasting and shipment delays.

Today, Zipline serves over 15 million people from six distribution centers with two more centers expected to launch later this year to meet the rising demand, nationally scaling from serving 160 facilities in 2019 to nearly 2,300 today.

In that time, Zipline Ghana has flown 13 million miles and delivered more than five million doses of vaccines, in addition to blood products and other essential medicines.

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