Cholera Alert: 7 deaths, 720 Suspected cases reported in Central Region

The Central Regional Health Directorate has revealed that seven hundred and twenty suspected cases of cholera with fourty-seven confirmed cases have been reported in eight districts in the Region.

Out of the number, seven “avoidable” deaths have been recorded in less than a month.

The districts include; Hemang Lower Dankyira, Awutu Senya East, Cape Coast, Awutu Senya and Gomoa East.

The rest are; Mfantesman, Agona West and Effutu.

Four other districts including Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA), Assin South, Assin North and Gomoa are yet to be confirmed as affected by the disease.

Speaking to stakeholders including the media in Cape Coast on Monday, the Acting Central Regional Health Director, Dr Agnes Anane attributed the cholera outbreak to poor sanitation, eating and drinking contaminated food and water respectively.

She called on all to help the Regional Health Directorate in its bid to contain the disease and break the transmission of cholera and subsequently increase the survival rate of anybody who gets infected.

“This disease emanates from filth, therefore, we have to ensure that the communities we live in are clean. This is the time that we have to come together to do clean-up exercises and avoid disposing of refuse indiscriminately”, Dr Anane stressed.

She urged Ghanaians to avoid open defecation and drinking water from the streams but rather resort to drinking pipe borne or treated water.

“If you want to buy food from outside, make sure it is hot and pay attention to the environment as well to check whether it is clean or not”.

The Acting Central Regional Director of Health Service reiterated the need to revisit the Covid19 protocol of hand washing to protect all and prevent the spread of the disease.

“We should wash our hands with soap and water before we eat”, she implored.

Dr Agnes Anane however called on the media to become ambassadors of the cholera awareness to help end cholera now.

” The December elections and the Christmas season are approaching, therefore, whatever we have to do to end cholera is very important. Media men, please help us educate our community members. Play our jingles frequently to ensure that people get the information. The community information centers should also play our jingles to educate people on the cholera disease”.

Dr Agnes Anane charged organizers of funerals among other events to put in place hand washing facilities to enable patrons wash their hands frequently to avoid taking diseases home.

Cholera is an acute diarrhea disease caused by a bacteria called vibrio cholerae.

People can get infected, when they come into contact with the bacteria, which can be found in a contaminated food and water usually due to poor sanitation.

Foods are contaminated when the person preparing or handling the food has their hands contaminated with the bacteria.

Mostly the person visits the washroom and doesn’t wash their hands with soap and water and the hands get contaminated with the bacteria.

Houseflies also transmit the bacteria when they settle on food, after settling on refuse dumps that are exposed to human excreta.

Once a person get infected with the disease, they can exhibit the symptoms between one and five days.

Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting and early treatment would safe people from avoidable deaths.

According to the Health Director, “treatment is purely the use of ORS IV fluids and antibiotics.

She added that the treatment for cholera is free when there is an outbreak. “Therefore, if people experience diarrhea and vomiting, they should quickly visit the hospital for immediate treatment”.

The Deputy Central Regional Director in charge of Public Health, Dr Joojo Cobbinah touched on the impending polio immunization scheduled to begin on Thursday 21st November to Sunday 24th November, 2024.

The immunization targets children of five years and below.

Dr Joojo Cobbinah urged parents to support the programme by making their children available.