Ghana achieves significant success in reducing high burden diseases

The Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has revealed that, Ghana has recorded significant success in reducing high burden diseases nationwide.

Speaking at the Meet the Press engagement today, Mr. Agyeman-Manu said no case of meningitis attributable to meningococcal, a bacterium has so far been detected. He said this feat was achieved after Meningococcal Conjugate Campaign was launched in 2012. He further noted that, no new cholera outbreak has been reported since 2017.

On Tuberculosis Control, the Minister said intensified case finding has been extended to 113 facilities with a goal of reaching out to 216 facilities nationwide. He said a total of 14,200 of all forms of TB were detected in 2018 out of a target of 19,764. He further revealed that, the treatment success rate for 2018 was very good and stood at 85%.

“This is commensurate to international standards”, He said. On malaria control, the minister mentioned that his outfit has distributed over 15.5 Million long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLITN) to at-risk populations and targeted risk groups.

“In April we made history with Ghana being the second country in the world (after Malawi) to pilot the malaria vaccine. This is part of our interventions to reduce the burden of malaria in Ghana”, he said.



He said for the next three years, between 120000 -150000 children will be vaccinated.