The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has entreated the public to keep up with hand hygiene and sanitary practices to curtail the spread of cholera in the country.
“We need to go back to the sanitary systems that were put in place during the COVID-19 era.
Hand washing, eating of warm food, clean environment and all. That’s the only way we will be able to contain this spread quickly,” he advised while updating journalists on the recent outbreak in the Greater Accra region, yesterday.
Following the confirmation of 43 cholera cases and two deaths in the Ada West and Ada East Districts of the Greater Accra Region two weeks ago, another outbreak has hit the Awutu Senya East District of the central region.
Five people have been confirmed dead while 30 others are reportedly on admission at the Kasoa Polyclinic and the Mother and Child Hospital, both in the area for management.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye stated that the current situation has triggered intensified public health emergency efforts to contain spread, ensuring early detection and effective response.
“We have outbreaks of cholera in almost the entire West African bloc. So as people move in and come back, it’s more like the importation of cases but if we tackle the WASH systems, we will be able to put it under control.
We are working very hard to contain the cholera outbreak. The first case was in August, and we contained it and it sprout again. So far, Ada West hasn’t reported cases in the last two weeks, and we hope it stays so”, he noted.
The Greater Accra region has remained Ghana’s major hotspot for the outbreak of cholera, recording cases in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
The worst cholera outbreak in Ghana’s history was in June 2014, which continued into 2015.
The region was the most affected, with 75 per cent of cases and 60 per cent of deaths until it was contained by the end of January 2015, with a total of 28,000 cases and 243 deaths.
The current outbreak raises concern and calls for urgent steps to contain spread and transmission.
Caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water, and remains a global public health threat which indicates inequity and lack of social development
Symptoms of cholera include severe diarrhoea, vomiting, and dehydration, which can rapidly lead to death if not treated promptly.
Majority of people infected with Cholera can be treated successfully through prompt administration of oral rehydration solution (ORS).
Strategies including improved sanitation, provision of safe drinking water, collection of solid waste from houses, prevention of industrial pollution of surface water, provision of public sanitation facilities, such as flush toilets, enforcement of bylaws to ensure landlords provide toilet facilities for tenants and improvement in water distribution systems have been found to help reduce risk of spread of the bacteria.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH