Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)

Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano is the Programme Manager (PM) of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Ghana Health Service. He is a Physician Epidemiologist and a Senior Public Health Physician Specialist in the Ghana Health Service. Dr. Amponsa-Achiano has over 20 years’ experience in public health. He graduated with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi in Ghana in 1999 and was admitted to the Membership of the Ghana College of Physicians in 2009 and the Fellowship of the same College in 2015.

He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Human Biology (KNUST, 1996), a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) from the University of Ghana (UG, 2003), Legon and a Diploma in Health Systems Management from the Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI-2017).

Dr Amponsa-Achiano has extensive knowledge of and experience in public health with focus on immunization, vaccine safety, public health emergency response, and family and reproductive health policies and programming. He is pivotal in the training of Public Health Physician Specialists at the Faculty of Public Health, Ghana College of Physicians & Surgeons, where he teaches Applied Epidemiology. He is Assistant Training Coordinator and a Board Member of the Faculty.

In 2015, Dr Amponsa-Achiano spent some time in Yale University as a Post Graduate Associate in the Department of Paediatrics and completed the 2015 Research Fellowship Programme through the Ghana-Yale Partnership for Global Health. Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano was one time a Child Health Specialist at the UNICEF Country Office in Accra and previously served as District Director of Health Service in the Ejura-Sekyedumase and the then Ahafo-Ano South Districts in Ashanti Region. He worked in the War Memorial Hospital, Navrongo, on secondment to the Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC) in the Upper East Region, as a young medical officer.

Prior to his appointment as the PM-EPI, he worked as Vaccine Safety Coordinator in EPI, serving as the link person between the Programme and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA). Additionally, Dr Amponsa-Achiano was the Focal Point for Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs) working closely with the Surveillance Department of the Service until his new appointment.

The Programme’s mandate is to reduce morbidity and mortality of vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) through immunization as an essential component of Primary Health Care (PHC). Ghana’s EPI continues to grow with the introduction of new vaccines and appropriate interventions to fight Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDS). The Programme started in 1978 in Ghana with six vaccines. Currently, 13 vaccine preventable diseases are targeted by the programme. The key strategic approach in delivering the services is the Reaching Every Child strategy

The Program is headed by the Manager, and ably assisted by a Deputy Program Manager. There are five units under the program:

Data Management & Monitoring and Evaluation, Communication, Safety Surveillance, Logistics and Training.

Program Objectives

The Policy goal of EPI is to protect all children and pregnant women living in Ghana against vaccine preventable diseases.

The specific objectives for the program set with reference to the global goals:

To attain an operational target of 90% nationally for all antigens To attain more than 80% of districts to attain Penta3 coverage of 80% and above
To maintain zero mortality due to measles: Measles mortality has been maintained at zero (0) since 2003 and the programme aimed at maintaining this achievement
To maintain ‘polio free’ status in the country
To maintain Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) elimination status
To introduce Rubella-containing measles vaccine into the routine programme
To improve routine reporting of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI)
To commemorate Child Health Promotion Week and African Vaccination Week:
The programme dedicated a week to heighten awareness on child health interventions in the country and also used it as an opportunity to
provide essential child health services
To improve technical support and supervision

Key Strategies and Main Interventions

Key strategies used by the programme are as follow:

Improved access through strengthening of Reaching Every District (RED) approach in all districts
Improved quality of service through strengthening of supervision and monitoring
Strengthened integration with other Child health related programmes–CHPW, Integrated Maternal and Childhood Health, Polio National Immunization Days (NIDs) etc.
Training in data generation and use for decision-making
Strengthened lower-level planning by training in micro-planning Strengthened collaborations with stakeholders to improve surveillance performance
Provision of feedback on performance to reporting institutions
Supported more activities on capacity building for cold chain and vaccine management in all the districts

Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano

Expanded Programme on Immunization Manager

Programs