The United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing $2 million (24.8 million Ghana Cedis) to construct a new national vaccine cold room and a national cold chain vaccine management resource center at Korle Bu.

USAID/Ghana Deputy Mission Director, Grace Lang, joined the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, to observe the progress of the construction, on Tuesday.

“The national vaccine cold room will store Ghana’s routine vaccines at optimal temperatures and provide surge capacity in case of future pandemics,” said Ms. Lang. She also acknowledged UNICEF for their technical support and the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service for providing their leadership in the health sector. When completed, the state-of-the-art building will have two floors with the cold room on the ground floor and offices and storage space on the first floor. The ground floor will have the capacity to house six walk-in cold freezer rooms. Construction is expected to be complete by June 2024.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the existing national vaccine cold room had reached full capacity. USAID’s support enabled Ghana to triple its vaccine distribution capacity, through the rental of two specialized cold vans.

The new national vaccine cold room builds on this support and represents USAID’s continued commitment to Ghana’s health sector.

The United States Government is Ghana’s largest bilateral partner with over $140 million in support in the last year for health, economic growth, agriculture, education, and governance.