BudgIT began implementing the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project in 2021 and has made significant progress in ensuring health sector accountability, tracking government spending related to COVID-19, and initiating initiatives to promote vaccine fairness.
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the critical need for transparent and accountable public healthcare systems, making the CTAP project an essential and complete undertaking. The vaccine campaign phase of the project’s three-phased approach has begun, focusing on dispelling vaccine myths and misconceptions, providing accurate and straightforward information about the COVID-19 vaccine, and promoting comprehensive vaccination efforts to achieve herd immunity and protect public health.
The ongoing “Get Fully Vaccinated; SAVE ONE, SAVE ALL” effort has been travelling across the country to promote awareness about the importance of vaccination. BudgIT team recently visited the Ada Community in the Greater Accra Region and hosted a market activation event on June 20, 2023, at the Ada Kasseh Market. Our mission is to encourage people to get vaccinated.
The BudgIT team set up camp and occupied the market with campaign materials (flyers, banners, posters, and other paraphernalia), music, a running campaign message over the PA system, and one-on-one engagement with market women, commuters, drivers, local government officials, and even law enforcement. The campaign message focused on Ghana’s long history and familiarity with vaccines, including routine childhood vaccines, Malaria, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, and other relatively common vaccines already in the system that have significant acceptability traction, and the fact that the COVID-19 vaccine was just another of such vaccines here to combat, this time, a global pandemic. BudgIT employees and volunteers, some of whom were medical experts familiar with the immunization process in the Ada community,
The engagement began with a courtesy call on Madam Ernestina Nartey, the Ada Market Queen, who appreciated BudgIT’s resilience efforts and contributions to reducing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and protecting their market ladies. “We used our money to push efforts to protect ourselves during the pandemic,” she explained. “We purchased nose masks, delivered them to market ladies, and placed Veronica buckets at strategic spots throughout the market.” As part of the marketing strategy, the team aired a pre-recorded vaccine campaign message in Ada (the people’s native language) over the market’s Public Announcement System.
During a meeting with District Assembly Officers at the market, the team discovered that most of the District Assembly workers had either received just one dose of the vaccine or had not been vaccinated. Additionally, we visited the local police station with the materials and message and made some interesting and exciting observations.
We also discovered some concerning trends in the community’s vaccination rates. Out of every ten people we spoke to, only one had been vaccinated, and even then, it was typically only the first dose. We also discovered that vaccine misconceptions tremendously influenced the community’s thinking, making our campaign more difficult. However, our efforts were rewarded when people came forward with personal stories and inquiries. Our team was able to ease their concerns to the point where some asked for campaign materials to utilize in their homes and towns. Community leaders should make a concerted effort to promote the immunization campaign.
The BudgIT Ghana team also visited Radio Ada, the community’s principal broadcasting station, which reaches three districts and numerous nearby islands. Radio Ada, BudgIT Ghana’s regional partner radio station, invited the team to discuss the “Get Fully Vaccinated; SAVE ONE, SAVE ALL” campaign. The advocacy engagement highlighted the importance of the government and other stakeholders redoubling their efforts and enthusiasm to aid vaccine access in Ghana.