The Upper West Regional Health Directorate has recorded 18 deaths from meningitis in the first 10 weeks of 2020 in five municipal and district assemblies (MDAs).
The figure represents 150 per cent increment over last year’s where four deaths were recorded within the same period.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes (meninges) surrounding the brain and spinal cord as a result of activities by bacteria or viruses that attack the body, engineered by hot weather conditions.
According to statistics from the Regional Disease Control Unit, Nadowli-Kaleo District recorded the highest number of deaths with seven incidents, whereas Nandom District and Jirapa municipality had five each with the remaining death occurring within the Lawra municipality.
In addition, 137 suspected cases were detected at the various health centres across the region and 11 of them were confirmed as meningitis.
This came to light at a seminar on update of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) preparedness awareness for the Upper West Region and Ghana at large at Wa over the weekend.
Speaking to the figures, the Regional Disease Control Officer, Mrs Justina Zoyah-Diedong explained that, the meningitis belt stretched across Nadowli, Jirapa, Lawra and Nandom districts and municipalities respectively as well as across Burkina Faso.
She said analysis from the municipal and district directorates showed that, with the exception of Sissala East, the remaining 10 MDAs had reported one or two cases of the meningitis disease.
Mrs Zoyah-Diedong said the meningitis epidemic was an annual occurrence, indicating that the Nadowli-Kaleo District and Jirapa municipality had crossed their epidemic threshold of seven cases.
“Epidemic threshold for meningitis are charted and monitored, so that logistics drugs and non-drug consumables are measured in their adequate quantities and distributed to the MDAs. Currently some provisions have been made to that effect in all the district hospitals across the region,” she said.
Mrs Zoyah-Diedong urged all residents in the region to immediately report to the hospital whenever they experienced severe headache, fever, stiff neck, photophobia, vomiting and altered consciousness, for early treatment.
For his part, the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Osei Kuffour Afreh said that the Saint Theresa’s Hospital in the Jirapa municipality, Sissala East District Government Hospital and the Upper West Regional Hospital were the three main health facilities which would be equipped with materials to be able to fight the COVID-19.
“The initial spread of the disease was from an animal to a human being and has since become a person to person transmission through droplet infection and direct contact with contaminated surface,” he indicated.
Dr Afreh stated that security personnel had been dispatched to all unapproved points of entry in the region, such as Gwollu in the Sissala West District, Gengenkpe in Nandom and Nanvili and Charikpong in the Nadowli-Kaleo District, to prevent people from entering the region through those routes.
FROM LYDIA FORDJOUR AND RAFIA ABDUL-RAZAK, WA
