WHO to certify Ghana guinea worm-free country
Ghana is to receive certification from the World Health Organisation ((WHO) as a guinea worm-free country.
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This follows the successful eradication of guinea worm, a water-borne disease in the country.
The Northern Regional Director of Health, Dr Akwasi Twumasi, who said this, indicated that since May 2010, the country had not recorded any guinea worm infestation case, and would soon be declared a guinea worm-free country after investigation and certification by the WHO.
Dr Twumasi was speaking at a ceremony organised by the Tamale Rotary Club in honour of the first female Vice-President of Rotary International, Madam Anne L. Matthews, who was at Tamale at the weekend to celebrate Rotary's contribution to the eradication of guinea worm in Ghana.
He commended Rotary Club International for its contributions towards the eradication of guinea worm in the country through the provision of potable water in guinea worm-endemic areas, especially in the Northern Region.
The Northern Regional Director of Health appealed to Rotary International to continue to support the country in the provision of potable water to sustain the successes chalked up in the eradication of guinea worm and the prevention of other water-borne diseases.
He further appealed for support for the region in the areas of malaria control, maternal health, hepatitis ‘B’ and the polio immunisation programme.
For her part, Madam Mathews commended the country for its efforts and dedication to the eradication of guinea worm, and appealed to the government to make sanitation and the provision of potable water a priority.
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She advised the public not to waste water but to strive to protect clean water sources and ensure their judicious usage because clean water was an important and non-exchangeable commodity.
Madam Matthews pledged the support of Rotary International to the country in the area of clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, economic empowerment and maternal health.
The Service Project Director, Mr Joseph Mumuni, said the club had spent $2.4 million on various projects in the three regions of the north through its sponsors.
The projects, he said, included 180 hand-dug wells, boreholes and mechanised water systems, bio-sand water filtration system, supply of Rapid Malaria Diagnostic test kits, anti-retroviral drugs and medical equipment.
Mr Alexander Kpodo, President of the Tamale Rotary Club, said it had supported different projects in the Northern Region with more than #$1.2 million, thereby helping to improve the lives of the people.
He also said through the contribution of the group and other collaborators, guinea worm had been eradicated, from 8,290 cases in 2003, to zero in 2013.
A lecturer at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University for Development Studies, Dr Sam Bugri, who presided over the ceremony, said the provision of potable water had a direct correlation with the eradication of Guinea worm.
Dr Bugri expressed worry over the use of potable water by car washing bay operators and said that steps must be taken to end that practice, to protect clean water.
The Chief of Savelugu, Yo-Na Abukari Mahama VII, in an address read on his behalf, thanked Rotary for providing the area with potable water and appealed for more of such facilities for other communities in the area which had no access to potable water, to help sustain the success story of Guinea worm eradication in the country.