UPPER WEST MAKES PLANS TO BATTLE CSM (BACK PAGE, JAN 25, 2011)

THE Upper West Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has prepared an emergency plan towards the fight against cerebro-spinal meningitis (CSM).
The objective of the plan is to help detect, confirm and respond appropriately to CSM in the region and also ensure a multi–sectoral approach and adequate resource mobilisation to respond to the epidemic and contribute to reduce its negative socio-economic impact.
As of September 2010, there had been 388 reported cases of meningitis, with 40 deaths.
Addressing a stakeholders’ meeting in Wa, the Upper West Regional Director of Public Health, Dr Kofi Issah, said the region had experienced almost annual outbreaks of meningitis since 1997, with a case fatality rate ranging between 10 and 25 per cent
He said the high mobility of persons in the western corridor of the region, that is, from the north-western parts of the Northern Region, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, as well as southern Ghana, meant the disease could be transmitted easily.
He said in addition to that, the urban area of the Wa municipality, with a high population of susceptible subjects made up of the over 12,000 students on the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, 6,000 students of the Wa Polytechnic and the senior high schools and newly posted public servants, made it important for strategic planning.
Dr Issah said under the plan, district disease control officers and other relevant staff were to be trained in outbreak investigations and response and also in surveillance to enable them to effectively supervise community-based volunteers.
“There will also be sensitisation programmes which will be carried out in the various tertiary institutions, while epidemic management teams are reactivated,” he added
He said the epidemic management teams, in most cases, should not be for only meningitis but other disease conditions with the relevant stakeholders.
According to Dr Issah, all health facilities would be required to manage patients according to national guidelines and develop effective referral systems for complicated cases, while the regional co-ordinating council would mobilise extra resources for mass campaigns.
CSM is caused by long, dry and dusty season lasting over a period of five months each year, poorly ventilated houses, overcrowded areas, the movement of people to and from regions and districts, among others.