The fight against elephantiasis has almost won in Ghana

Health News Sunday, July 7, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-07-07

Elephantiasis infection was lifted in 38 of the 98 endemic districts in the country.

This comes after 16 years of fighting the disease.

The current situation has prompted the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and its partners to push the deadline for the elimination of the disease in the remaining 15 districts from 2020 to 2025 in order to have more time to get rid of completely of the disease.

The 15 districts that still have the disease are Nabdam and Kasena Nankana West, in the far eastern region. Lawra, Jirapa, Wa West and Wa East in the Upper West region; Bole, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, West Gonja and North Gonja in the former Northern Region; Ahanta West, Nzema East and Ellembelle in the Western Region and Sunyani Municipal and Sunyani West in the Bono area.

These were revealed at the launch of the 2019 (Drug Drug Administration – MDA) mbad exercise against Neglected Tropical Diseases (MTN) in Sunyani last Tuesday.

This year's theme is "Improving Mbad Drug Administration in All Endemic Districts".

launching

Dr. Yao Yeboah, Chairman of the GHS Board of Directors, said that despite lack of awareness, unsafe health practices, close contacts with infectious vectors, and limited Drinking water and sanitation, the NTD program in Ghana had made good progress. especially against trachoma and elephantiasis.

He urged all stakeholders to pool their knowledge and efforts to contribute to the elimination of elephantiasis in the remaining 15 districts of the country.

In an address read on his behalf, Dr. Kofi Issah, Regional Director of Bono Health Services, also responsible for the Bono East and Ahafo regions, said that although the World Health Organization (WHO) had planned to end 2020 elimination period of elephantiasis, the same can not be said of Ghana.

He therefore called for more treatment in sensitive districts, and also called for intense collaboration between health facilities, agencies and stakeholders to determine why the disease still did not occur. eliminated in the remaining 15 districts.

challenges

Dr. Issah congratulated the communities who have continuously authorized the distribution of drugs.

"Without this free nature, the elimination of NTDs would be a mirage," he said.

Dr. Benjamin Kofi Marfo, Head of the Neglected Tropical Diseases Program, said the weakness of surveillance and oversight activities and the lack of safety of health volunteers during field visits, as well as cross-border issues were some of the obstacles hindering the fight against NTDs.

To make the exercise more successful, he called on the police to protect volunteers from drug distribution in the community and to strengthen surveillance and supervision roles in remote areas.

According to Dr. Marfo, research has shown that 25% of people just collect drugs and do not take them. They asked those who behaved in this way to stop doing so for the program to produce the desired results.

He also asked people with NTD symptoms not to treat themselves with traditional medicines, but to go to the nearest health center to get a correct diagnosis of their problem before he degenerate.