Trainees urged to share information on Ebola

Ghanaians have been advised to share the information they get at health fora on Ebola with their families members and communities, so that they would also be well informed about the disease and how to prevent its spread.

Ms Helen Saakwa, of the Akuapem South District Education Directorate, explained that the best way to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus was to engage in collective efforts where everybody is well informed about the disease, knows how to prevent its spread and practice it.

Ms Saakwa was speaking at a forum organized on Ebola and good sanitation practices for the students of the Aburi Presbyterian Women College of Education at Aburi.

The programme was organized by the Work and Happiness Organization, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Koforidua that focus on environmental health education.

She advised the students to report to the nearest health institution when they have severe headache and an unexplained fever, diarrhea, vomiting with sore throat.

Ms Saakwa advise the students to avoid washing or touching the cloths or bedding of people suspected to be Ebola patients unless it had been disinfected by trained health workers and avoid handling of game or bush meat.

She said the major mode of infection was by getting into contact with the fluid of an infected person or animal and therefore advised them to avoid contact with any person suspected to have contracted the disease.

Mr Oswin Gameli Adzraku, Akuapem South District Health Education Coordinator, explained that, when one is preparing a game or bush meat, one was likely to come into contact with the blood and other body fluids of the animal and if the game was infected with the Ebola virus, the one preparing the meat could also be infected hence the advice that people should avoids game or bush meat as one of the means of controlling the spread of the virus.

Mr Frank Adu-Asare, Executive Director of Work and Happiness Organization expressed regret that at this stage of the development of the country, Ghanaians should engage in insanitary behavior to lead to the outbreak of cholera in the country.

He said cholera infection went beyond health dimensions because it affected the country’s tourism earnings, agricultural exports, employment and foreign direct investments.

Mr Adu-Asare called on the teacher trainees to be agents of change and be advocates of good environmental practices so that wherever they would be posted on completion of their course, they would train the pupils that they would be teaching to develop good environmental sanitation habits.