Yellow Fever In Three Ashanti Districts - WHO

Joseph Yieleh Chireh - Health Minister

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified three districts in the Ashanti Region as high-risk areas of yellow fever.

They are the Atwima Mponua and Adansi South districts and the Kumasi Metropolis.

Dr Joseph Oduro, the Director of Public Health at the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate, told the Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday ahead of a media launch of a vaccination campaign against the disease in Kumasi today that by the high risk, there was the strong possibility of an outbreak occurring in the three areas.

Yellow fever is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes. Dr Oduro described it as a deadly disease and its prevention could not be taken for granted.

Under WHO conditions, one confirmed case of yellow fever is considered to be an outbreak.

The last time there was an outbreak in the Ashanti Region was in 2007 when one case was reported in the Adansi South District.

Dr Oduro said all persons above 10 years of age, with the exception of pregnant women, would be vaccinated against the disease.

He emphasised that awareness creation was essential in combating yellow fever, as it appeared not many people had very good knowledge about the disease.

“Unlike HINI where the awareness creation was not encouraging, this time round we want to send the message down to the people,” he stressed.

He urged the people to avail themselves of the exercise to help save lives.

The WHO has recently recommended that every at-risk country should have at least one national laboratory where basic yellow fever blood tests can be performed.

In Ghana, testing for the disease is conducted at the Noguchi Memorial Centre for Medical Research.

However, there is no equipment for confirmation of tests. The nearest centre for the confirmation is in Dakar.

That notwithstanding, Dr Oduro indicated that Ghana had one of the best testing centres in Africa, which could be relied upon at any time.