Action Aid Ghana Assists Ebola Preparedness

Action Aid Ghana (AAG) has donated 300 mattresses valued at GH�81,000 to the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) as part of measures to handle an outbreak of the Ebola virus disease. The Programmes Manager of AAG in the Upper East Region, Mr James Kusi-Boama, who presented the gift, emphasised the need to prepare towards disasters before they occur. He said considering its geographical closeness of the region to countries such Burkina Faso and Togo, it was important the Region mapped out strategies towards arresting any outbreak or transfer of communicable diseases, including Ebola and cholera before they got out of hand. He called on political heads in the region, particularly, municipal and district chief executives and the Ghana Health Service to embark on vigorous awareness creation campaigns on Ebola to get rural people informed. He condemned the manner in which corpses were buried in some of the traditional homes in the Region, such methods could lead to the outbreak of diseases. Mr Kusi-Boama tasked opinion leaders to work with their communities to avoid an outbreak of cholera in the region. The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Syme, lauded AAG for the gesture and said preparations were underway to contain the Ebola situation and other related issues should any such eventuality occur. In August this year, AAG supported the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to embark on sensitization programmes on disasters , including cholera and spillage from the Bagre Dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso. As part of the campaign programme, Mr Syme led a clean-up exercise to tidy parts of the Bolgatanga Municipality.