<<Print>>

The Greater Accra Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Linda Van-Otoo, has warned of another cholera outbreak in the region this year if measures were not put in place to ensure environmental hygiene. 

According to her, the threat of cholera was real, especially with the onset of the rains, “and as a region, we have not declared that cholera was over because we were still recording cholera cases till the end of the year 2014.”

“Whatever causes cholera is still around, and the prevailing unhygienic conditions are conducive for its spread. So we would like people to take good care of themselves and their surroundings,” the director indicated.

Causes of cholera
Dr Van-Otoo, who gave the warning in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said already there had been some reported cases of cholera in some parts of Accra this year and therefore, appealed to the people against consuming contaminated food and water.

“Cholera is basically about drinking water and eating food that is contaminated with faeces that has the bacteria in it. And if you look around, people are still defecating anyhow, buying foods that are not covered or selling along gutters and waste bins,” she observed.

Dr Van-Otoo further explained that when there was indiscriminate defecation and it rained, it washed the fecal matter into either drinking water, food or even onto people’s hands, which she noted could also cause cholera.

Statistics
She said last year, the region recorded over 20,000 cases. And that as of the close of September the same year, the area recorded about 92 deaths that included children.

Dr Van-Otoo expressed concern that children were mostly victims of the disease and therefore, advised parents and teachers to intensify education of their children on the dangers of eating cold foods and also eating without washing their hands with soap.

Appeal
On treatment, the regional director appealed to corporate bodies to support the sector to deal with any possible outbreak of the disease this year since cholera treatment was expensive. She observed that as a result of inadequate facilities at most health centres in the region, management and treatment of the disease caused considerable pressure and untold hardship on existing facilities and patients last year.