The Ashanti Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has today launched Novel Oral Poliomyelitis (Polio Vaccine) campaign round one under the theme: “Kick polio out of Ghana” starting from 21st to 24th November.
Polio (Poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under 5 years of age, one in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralyzed, 5- 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized, and in some instances the child is unable to move certain limbs, also called paralysis, even into adulthood affecting the quality of life and at times the potential for other activities.
Briefing the media, Dr Fred Adomako Boateng, the Ashanti Health Director of the Ghana Health Service said although they have been able to address the wild types of polioviruses in the environment, they have not yet achieved their major objective of the polio endgame plan to eradicate all forms of polioviruses, our agenda of eradicating polio is in jeopardy with current happening of outbreaks of vaccine derived poliovirus, he added.
According to Dr Fred, on 6th of September 2024, the Ghana Health Service was notified of a confirmed cVDPV2 isolate from the Koforidua Enviromental Surveillance sites (ES) by the world Health Organization (WHO) Regional Polio Reference Laboratory at Network Manager Interactive Reporting dashboard (NMIMR), he explained
Again Dr Fred Adomako Boateng said 4 Regions in Ghana have recorded Cholera Outbreak excluding Ashanti Region, although 16 suspected people who presented signs and symptoms of cholera, after taking their samples for test came out negative
Regular stomach upset and vomiting at the same time, should be referred to the hospital for proper check up, hand washing with clean water and soap should be a necessity, he advised
By Bismark Mensah@A/R.