Measures taken to prevent guinea worm outbreak

Tamale, Jan 9, GNA- Dr. Seidu Korkor, National Coordinator of the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP) has given the assurance that adequate measures had been taken to prevent guinea worm disease outbreak during "Ghana 2008" football tournament.

He said personnel of the GWEP, sector agencies involved in water delivery and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) had held several meetings to strategise to ensure that the disease was not a threat to the games. Dr. Korkor was speaking at a workshop organised by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for health personnel in preparation towards Ghana 2008, in Tamale on Wednesday.

The workshop brought personnel from the Ghana Health Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the police and the military medical units the Saint John's Ambulance and the National Ambulance Service.

The participants were treated to topics such as: "Trauma and emergency management", "general concept in emergency preparedness", "cardio-respiratory emergencies management", basic and advance life support skills" and "bleeding and shock management". Dr. Korkor urged drivers providing water tanker services not to draw water from contaminated sources for public consumption. Dr. Wilfred Larb Addo, the coordinator of the medical team from the MOH and a facilitator at the workshop, said because of the large number of funs who would be attending the stadium to watch the matches it was necessary to prepare for any eventualities.

He said the people gathering would be from different backgrounds and environments with some of them having peculiar ailments which could easily dispose them to have heart attacks and other ailments and therefore needed emergency treatment.

Dr. Addo said although he was not a prophet of doom it was important to anticipate structural problems that the new stadia might encounter and therefore put in place emergency programmes. He advised football fans to exercise patience in whatever they do and ensure that they eat adequately and drink enough water before entering the stadium.