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Health News on Friday, November 23, 2018
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2018-11-23
The seven-day campaign would be conducted free of charge in 65 districts in nine regions
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched the national yellow fever prevention campaign and plans to vaccinate around 5,364,275 people in the country.
With the exception of the Upper West Region, which has already been vaccinated, the seven-day campaign, which runs from November 28 to December 4; and targeting people aged 10 to 60 would be conducted free of charge in 65 districts in nine regions.
At the launching ceremony in Sunyani on Friday, SGH Director General Anthony Nsiah-Asare said that yellow fever had become a serious health threat worldwide and called for concerted efforts to ensure the success of the disease. campaign.
He said it required active support and commitment from traditional authorities, civil society actors, and municipal and district assemblies for the campaign to achieve the desired results, and called for concerted efforts in this regard. effect.
Under the theme: "Get vaccinated and protect yourself against yellow fever", the campaign is supported by UNICEF, GAVI and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to Dr. Nsiah-Asare, 15% of yellow fever cases developed serious complications and called on the general public to report symptoms such as fever, jaundice, muscle aches, vomiting, and loss of appetite at the health center. the closest for treatment.
Since 1992, the GHS has implemented several programs, including routine immunization services and mass immunization campaigns to eliminate communicable diseases, and thanked the country's key partners, namely WHO, UNICEF and GAVI, to have organized and supported various immunization exercises.
Dr. George Bonsu, head of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), said that GAVI, a global alliance for immunization, has approved six million doses of vaccine for the prevention campaign.
He said the GHS, with the support of its partners, is committed to ensuring that the country carries out a 100% vaccination campaign against yellow fever, stating that by 2019, the remaining 74 districts would be captured as part of the campaign.
Mr. Martin Oti-Gyarko, Deputy Regional Minister of Brong-Ahafo, said that three cases of yellow fever had been detected and managed in North Jaman district and called on traditional leaders to support the campaign by ensuring that majority of targeted people in their localities were vaccinated.
He called on the media, the National Commission for Civic Education and the Department of Information Services to help intensify public education for the campaign to achieve the expected success.
Mr. Oti-Gyarko urged the GHS and activists to give priority to people with special needs and to give them sufficient notice for the exercise to cover them.
Yellow fever is a viral disease transmitted by a bite of infected mosquitoes, mainly Aedes egyptia – a type of mosquito that breeds in the little water collected at the axils of the leaves (plantain leaves and banana leaves ).
The WHO report shows that about 200,000 cases of yellow fever were recorded each year, including 30,000 worldwide.
About 47 countries (including 34 in Africa and 13 in South America) with a population of more than 500 million are at risk of contracting the disease worldwide.
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