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| Dr. Joseph Nuertey demonstrating how to wash the hands properly |
THE CAPE Coast Metropolitan Health Director (MHD), Dr. Joseph Nuertey has disclosed that his outfit has recorded 16 deaths in relation to the recent Cholera outbreak in the country.
He said 495 cases have already been detected and currently the people are receiving treatment at the various hospitals throughout the region.
He stated that five districts in the region including Gomoa East, Agona East and West, Awutu Senya and Effutu districts have so far been indentified to have been affected by the epidemic.
He therefore added that his outfit together with other health agencies in the region has put in place measures to prevent the disease from spreading to other districts and municipalities in the region that has resulted in organizing educational programmes to raise awareness in the various communities.
Dr. Nuertey made this known on Tuesday when Better Ghana Management Services Limited (BGMSL), a non profiting company in the country organized a one day sensitization programme to educate local food operators in the Cape Coast Metropolis (CCM) of the Central Region on how to control and curb the increasing Cholera outbreak in the region.
He however advised people to ensure personal hygiene through the washing of hands with soap under clean and safe running water before taking meals, adding that, that was the only way to prevent more people from being infected.
He also recommended the old method of boiling water before drinking since the disease spreads quickly through tainted water.
The occasion attracted hundreds of women who prepare local dishes for sale through the use of various ingredients and measures.
Participants were taken through the importance of hand washing practices which is said to be the most effective way to curb various diseases in the communities and nation as a whole.
The programme which was in collaboration with the Ministry of Health was to help individuals increase control over their health system.
Addressing the participants, the Central Regional Programmes Coordinator of BGMSL, Ms. Ivy Naa Deedei Thompson disclosed that BGMSL aims at supporting disease prevention and control through the organization of national health promotion and education programmes in the various communities.
According to her, the initiative forms part of government’s public-private sector support to attract communities to involve themselves in the implementation of health promotion interventions which include the process of enabling people to increase control over their health.
She added that BGMSL has taken the initiative to make available ‘Veronica Buckets’ at public lavatories, market places, bus terminals and for food vendors to encourage hand washing with soap under clean running water.
In order to curb the situation, she said the Central Regional office of BGMSL has trained about one hundred health promotion officers at the various district and sub district levels who are actively involved in health promotion activities at churches, market places, schools and social gatherings to educate the masses on preventive health.
She therefore assured participants that BGMSL will continue to participate in such collaborative ventures to ensure Ghanaians become healthier as a result of the drastic reduction in the incidences of preventable diseases.
Ms.Thompson later presented 50 hand washing containers (Veronica Buckets) on behalf of BGMSL to the Central Regional Branch of the Association of Local Food Operator’s (ALFO) to help them educate their customers, workers and families on how to curb cholera by washing their hands with soap before taking any meal.
From Sarah Afful & Desmond K. Dapaah, Cape Coast
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