Findings from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) key indicators report show that two in every five (43.6 percent) children aged 12 to 23 months have not been fully vaccinated in compliance with the national schedule.
According to the national schedule, Northern Region recorded the highest rate of 70.8 percent and had seven of every 10 children in this age range not vaccinated. Second to the Northern Region is Western, with six in every 10 not being fully vaccinated and representing a percentage of 60.9 percent while the Savannah Region recorded 58.4 percent.
About one in every 10 (9.0 percent) children aged 12 to 23 months in the Northern Region have not received any vaccination – the highest recorded and almost five times the national average of two percent. The Ahafo (8.3 percent) and Western (4.5 percent) Regions had the next highest percent of children in this age range not receiving any vaccinations.
The focus on health and nutrition in early years out of the entire GDHS by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is in line with commemoration of 2023 World Children’s Day under the theme ‘For every child, every right’.
Nutritional Status
With respect to the three anthropometric indices to measure the nutritional status of children age 5, 17.5 percent of children under 5 years were stunted (low height-for-age); 12.5 percent was underweight (low weight-for-age); and 6.0 percent were wasted (low weight-for-height).
Furthermore, three in every 10 children under 5 years were stunted in the Northern and North East Regions with the highest rate of 29.6 and 29.3 percent respectively. North East (20.4 percent) and Northern (19.9 percent) also recorded a higher percentage of children under 5 years who were underweight; with Northern Region (7.9 percent) having the highest prevalence of wasting followed by the Ashanti (7.7 percent), Volta (7.4 percent) and Oti (7.3 percent) Regions.
The report from GDHS also looks at anaemic children where one in every two (49.0 percent) children under 5 years was anaemic, with 21.1 percent being moderately anaemic and 0.8 percent being severely anaemic. The highest rates of anaemia were recorded in the Northern (69.4 percent) and Upper East (69.3 percent) Regions, where seven in every 10 children under 5 years were anaemic.
One in every ten women, signifying 12.5 percent who delivered in the two years preceding the survey, did not attend the minimum four antenatal care visits; highest being in the Oti (24.3%) and Savannah (20.5%) Regions.
Furthermore, one in every five women (21.5 percent) who delivered in the two years preceding the survey did not receive a postnatal check within the first two days of birth as recommended. The Northern (27.3 percent) and Oti (23.3 percent) Regions had the highest percentage of women that did not receive a postnatal check, and were the only regions above 20.0 percent.
