Health News of Monday, 16 May 2016

Source: classfmonline.com

Cholera cases will be minimal this year: GHS

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The Ghana Health Service has said it is bracing itself to tackle a looming Cholera outbreak in the country, months after dealing with the scourge of Meningitis that left more than 100 people dead.

According to the Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, the number of Cholera cases expected this year would be minimal considering the measures put in place to tackle the disease.

“…Accra is normally the epicentre of Cholera breaks in Ghana, so, for a start, we had a cholera campaign, which was actually launched by the Ministers of Health, Communications, and Local Government,” he told Class News.

“We have also sent alerts to all regions and districts so that we hike our surveillance on Cholera. We have also stockpiled medicines.

“We are not hoping to have more cases of Cholera this year, but even if they should occur, they will be so minimal that our health system can address [them].”

Dr. Bekoe advised Ghanaians to take sanitation seriously and wash their hands with soap and water to prevent cholera.

He explained: “We are saying that the risk for Cholera is around because we have challenges with sanitation. People should make sure they wash their hands with soap and running water. We are looking at what we call containment at the source. There was one case reported a month ago; it was immediately contained.”