YOUDRIC intensifies campaign on Ebola, cholera

The Youth Development, Research and Innovation Centre (YOUDRIC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) operating in three regions of the country, has intensified its public education to avert the spread of cholera and prevent an outbreak of Ebola in the country.

As part of a consortium of three Ghanaian NGOs, YOUDRIC embarked on the educational campaign with Hope for Future Generation (HFFG) and the Institute of Social Research and Development (ISRAD), both civil society organisations, with funding from UKaid.

The consortium is also promoting malaria diagnosis before treatment using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in 50 districts in five regions of the country.

So far, YOUDRIC has sensitised 4,483 traditional and religious leaders to, and trained 600 community surveillance volunteers on cholera and Ebola in 30 districts in the Ashanti, Central and Eastern regions.

Launching the campaign in the Eastern Regional capital Koforidua, the Operations Director of YOUDRIC, Mr Daniel Attrams, said the centre was leading the campaign in 600 communities in the 30 districts in  three regions, with the remaining seven regions being covered by ISRAD and HFFG.

The Programme Director of YOUDRIC, Eric Kwabena Amano-Mpianim, emphasised that the goal of the campaign was to make at least 70 per cent of risk groups  knowledgeable on the modes of transmission, signs and symptoms and ways of preventing cholera and Ebola.

He said YOUDRIC had so far organised district stakeholder meetings in all the 30 districts, engaging chiefs, queen mothers, religious leaders, assembly members, health and education service staff in strategies aimed at raising awareness of and building knowledge on the two diseases.