A University of Ghana health economics study has found that Ghana's pneumococcal vaccine programme remains highly cost-effective, even after the country moves away from Gavi co-financing.
The study looked at PCV13, the vaccine used to protect children under 5 from pneumococcal disease.
The issue is important because Streptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for 18% of infant deaths in Ghana. Ghana introduced PCV13 into the childhood immunisation programme in 2012 with Gavi support.
The study compared vaccination with no vaccination across 2 periods: 2012 to 2025 and 2026 to 2031.
The results suggest PCV13 will reduce the pneumococcal disease burden by 48% between 2012 and 2031.
The programme cost was estimated at 130 million dollars for 2012 to 2025 and 275 million dollars for 2026 to 2031.
The cost-effectiveness results also remained favourable. From the government perspective, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was 89 dollars for 2012 to 2025 and 530 dollars for 2026 to 2031.
From the society perspective, it was 73 dollars and 510 dollars respectively.
The public message is clear. Even when Ghana pays more after Gavi transition, the child pneumonia vaccine still gives strong value for money.