Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) has killed 40 people in the Upper West Region out of a total number of 258 cases recorded in the region in the last 14 weeks.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, in a press conference today April 15, 2020, disclosed that most of the death they have recorded is due to delay in reporting to the health facilities.
“The case fatality rate of meningitis in the region is 15.5 % which is unacceptable.
“About 80% of the death is as a result of delay in reporting to the health facilities,†the Minister was worried.
Dr. Bin Salih stated that the region has over 9,000 vials of ceftrizone and five packs of pastorex to treat the disease and has, therefore, urged people infected with the deadly disease to report to health facilities whenever one begins experiencing headache, fever and stiffness for immediate attention than resorting to self-medication.
He also assured the people not to panic as there are enough drugs to help manage and treat meningitis cases.
He confirmed that there will be health experts coming into the region in a few days time to help manage the situation which seems to be getting out of hand.
Ending his presser, he said there is no vaccine worldwide for sero-type X which is currently affecting the people and they must be proactive in reporting to the health facilities to avoid more deaths.
The spread of CSM has come at a time where Ghana is also battling with the novel coronavirus.
Ghana as at April 14, 2020 had recorded 636 cases with 8 deaths so far.