Prime News Ghana

Health Ministry chasing CSM like COVID-19 - Kwaku Agyeman-Manu

By Mutala Yakubu
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Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu says his Ministry is putting in measures to curb the spread of Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM).

40 people have died from an outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis in the Upper West Region.

According to the Ghana Health Service, as of April 15, 2020, a total of 409 cases had been recorded from the 5 northern regions, with Upper West alone pegging 258.

Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak criticised the Health Ministry for not paying much attention to the disease which has claimed more lives than COVID-19 and it was about time stringent measures are put in place to stop its spread.

READ ALSO: 80% CSM deaths in Upper West Region down to delay in reporting to health facilities - Dr Salih

Mr Agyeman-Manu reacting to this said they are doing everything possible and are using the same energy for the COVID-19 fight in this very issue.

"We are working on how to stop the CSM and we are chasing the bacterial like how we are chasing COVID-19, we are doing education, sensitization, community engagement and all that can be done. We are even doing social distancing with the CSM, we have people going round to educate."

The Ghana Health Service in a statement last week revealed that although the disease had no vaccine, there was available treatment, attributing the rapid deaths to delay in the report for healthcare.

The statement further noted that the Upper West started recording sporadic cases in February 2020, and has seen a rise in cases in recent times especially in the past two weeks.

The Ghana Health Service further stated that all the affected areas, namely; Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Savannah and North East had been adequately stocked with appropriate antibiotics for the management of the disease as well as funds to their response.

The spread of CSM has come at a time where Ghana is also battling with the novel coronavirus.

Ghana as at April 18, 2020, had recorded 834 cases with 9 deaths so far.

 

 

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