Saturday, March 19, 2011

CHOLERA EPIDEMIC IN SOME DISTRICTS IN GHANA

Reports indicates that a total of 3,915 cases with 60 deaths had been recorded in the 30 districts as at March 16, 2011, giving a cholera case fatality rate of 1.5 per cent in the country.

With this, many commentaries are being made on the epidemic. My simple question is why do we wait till moments like this happen before we make long speeches and sermons on communicable disease control? The public health situation in Ghana is very poor in my estimation. This is because as a country, we are paying too much attention to curative health services to the detriment of preventive services. All of us, health professionals included, have missed the point. How many public health doctors do we have in the country? How many medical doctors do we have in Ghana? Just compare the ratio and you will understand my worries.

Ghana needs more public health professionals and the right public health policies. I will not limit myself to the Cholera epidemic alone but all the diseases of public health importance. By it very nature, public health demands a multi - sectoral approach in finding solutions to the health challenges that plague us. In that regard, I will agree with Dr Joseph Amankwa, Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS) that there is the need for an integrated multi-sectoral action for the successful prevention and control of the current cholera epidemic in Greater Accra and other parts of the country, since most of the risk factors are beyond the control of the health sector.

Let strengthen our public health services in Ghana and with that i believe strongly that most of our health care needs would be adequately manged.