Dr Marion Okoh-Owusu, Western Regional Director of Ghana Health Services (GHS), says the Service is conducting active case search of the Mpox disease in all 14 districts in the Western Region.

She said the move formed part of measures to ensure that staff of the Ghana Health Services respond positively to the fight against the deadly Mpox disease.

Dr Okoh-Owusu announced this when she addressed staff of the GHS on the need to intensify the surveillance systems on the Mpox disease in the Ellembelle District at Nkroful.

The meeting brought together staff of the Ghana Health Services at the District and Sub-District level, the Regional and National levels, as well as staff from the WHO and the media.

The Regional Health Director reminded healthcare experts to be committed to joining the fight against the Mpox disease.

She commended Dr Augustine Kwesi Amoako, Ellembelle District Director of Health Services, for leading healthcare initiatives to raise the standard for the Mpox discussion in Ellembelle.

As part of the active case search, the Regional Director said the GHS would go all out to the traditional healing camps as well as engage the counter-chemical sellers at the drug stores to ensure that patients in their fold were referred to the Hospitals on time.

The Regional Director of Health Services said since the Mpox disease outbreak on May 2, 2024, in the Western Region, with the first case picked in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, 13 out of 14 Districts have reported cases of Mpox.

Dr Okoh-Owusu announced that as of December 08, the GHS had recorded a total of 1,060 suspected cases of Mpox disease in the Western Region.

Out of the number, a total of 398 cases reported positive, with 391 fully recovered.

She said the Region, however, lost three patients to Mpox and co-morbidity infection.

Dr Okoh-Owusu advised communities to adhere to the advice of health professionals and urged patients to follow transmission-based precautions to prevent infection, adding, ” those on admission who refused forms of treatment did not help the service at all”.

The Service would continue to intensify community education to deepen understanding and provide inpatient care for timely recovery.

She said the Regional Health Directorate would bring the public health emergency management committee together at a meeting to look at the state of affairs as far as the Mpox disease was concerned.

Dr Augustine Kwesi Amoako, Director of Health Services at the Ellembelle District, expressed gratitude to the Western Regional Director of Health Services for the financial and technical support to health care delivery in the district.

He said 47 cases of Mpox disease were recorded in the Ellembelle District.

Dr Amoako said as a result, the Health Directorate intensified its surveillance systems to contain the disease in the district.

Dr Patrick Avevor an Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said as part of Ghana’s response, a number of interventions were rolled out, such as vaccination.

He said Ghana got just about 33,000 doses, out of which 20,000 doses were released to the Western Region in October.

On the potency of the vaccine, he said, "There is evidence to show that if you are able to identify the case and give them the vaccine, it quenches the spread of the disease immediately.”

Dr Avevor appealed to staff at the GHS to “keep up the surveillance, strengthen contact identification and keep risk communication also high”.

Dr Sally-Ann Ohene, the Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager at the WHO, commended staff at the GHS directorate in Ellembelle and called on them to us the opportunity to curb the Mpox disease.

She also charged the GHS to make use of the support from WHO to do the case searches and identify any potential cases in a bid to break the transmission and move on to other things.