Ghana marks World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day

Ghana today joined the rest of the world to mark the first-ever World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day to celebrate the achievements made towards controlling the diseases.

To commemorate the day, the NTD Secretariat of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) organised a durbar at James Town in Accra on the theme:, “Beat NTDS: For Good, For All”.

The durbar was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO), civil society groups, corporate organisations, development partners and individuals from the community.

At the event, stakeholders reiterated their commitment to scale up efforts in meeting the daunting challenges they face in controlling and eliminating the conditions.

Out of a list of 14 NTDs prevalent locally, Ghana has eliminated trachoma infection of the eye and guinea worm.

The battle currently is against the remaining 12 NTDs, which include Lymphatic Filariasis (elephantiasis), Onchocerciasis (Oncho or river blindness), Schistosomiasis (bilharzia), soil-transmitted helminthiasis (hookworm), Buruli Ulcer, Yaws (a chronic infection that affects mainly the skin, bone and cartilage), leprosy, leishmaniasis (transmitted by the bite of sandflies), trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and rabies which is transmitted to humans through bites of non-vaccinated dogs.

Assiduous work

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister for Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, said: “we are working hard to control and gradually eliminate some of these diseases especially Yaws and we will come up with plans for that this year.”

Mr Agyemang-Manu explained that the NTDs were a group of diseases that could cause significant disease infections and deaths nationwide.

He said their prevention and control were central to ending extreme poverty in the next two decades and recommended a more targeted approach such as an integrated programme to educate communities and schools on the diseases in order to consolidate the gains the country had made in countering them.

Partnership

For his part, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Aboagye, said the service would maximise its partnership with other governmental and non-governmental organisations and development partners to work towards advancing control and elimination of NTDs this year.

He described the inaugural NTD Day celebration as timely and important, saying: “It’s a step in the right direction and will contribute and maximise efforts that countries were making to achieve the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) and the WHO ambition to eliminate NTDs.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey, said “no one in the world should suffer from NTDs this year. It is time to finally beat NTDs so that everyone will have the chance to live a healthy, productive and dignified life.”

Effective measures

Dr Sally Ann Ohene, a disease prevention and control officer at the WHO office in Ghana, urged the government and various stakeholders to join hands in combating NTDs in the country.

“I urge the government to allocate adequate resources to sectors working against NTDs and strengthen cross-border collaboration,” she said.

She said historically, matters involving NTDs had not received as much attention as some other infections.

“Meanwhile, these diseases lead to severe disability, disfigurement and even death. They contribute to school absenteeism, keep adults out of work and put communities in endless poverty cycles,” she added.