Nkoranza (B/A), Aug. 24, GNA - Mr Charles Kwasi Gyamfi, Nkoranza Sou= th District Disease Control Officer, has stated that changes in climatic conditions and the poor state of the environment in communities could trigger the outbreak of communicable diseases. He was addressing 40 health volunteers at a one day refresher training workshop at Nkoranza on Tuesday, to update their knowledge on symptoms of various diseases, to enable them to detect such diseases in their areas for immediate attention.

He cited the Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis (CSM) disease that recently claimed some lives in Obuasi, in the Ashanti Region, hence the need for health volunteers to be vigilant, in terms of awareness of symptoms or indications of patients. Mr Gyamfi asked community-based surveillance volunteers not to hesitat= e to report an outbreak of epidemic in their communities to the health facilities for immediate attention. He asked health volunteers to visit homes and observe the health statu= s of the people, noting that, some people refused to attend hospital until they faced complications. The disease control officer called on community leaders to encourage people to keep their surroundings clean against to avoid getting malaria as well as diarrhoea diseases.

Chopbar operators, food vendors and drinking bar operators should keep their surroundings clean and cover their food well to prevent flies from contaminating the food items, Mr Gyamfi said. He urged the volunteers to keep regular and accurate reports on all their activities to enable the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to be abreast wit= h diseases prevalent in communities and arrange for their solution to promote the health of the people.