SONA25: We will keep the cities clean to prevent infectious diseases - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama says his government is committed to keeping the communities and cities clean through appropriate investments, supervision, and performance tracking in efforts to prevent disease outbreaks.

Delivering his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on the floor of Parliament in Accra on Thursday, President Mahama said sanitation within the context of infectious disease outbreaks, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation was a major priority.

“Public health experts are grappling with the conundrum of new diseases and the re-emergence of old diseases, our cities and towns must be cleaner than what is being delivered so far,” he said.

He said the unpredictable nature of disease outbreaks suggested that the nation must make her health system resilient to shocks.

Since October last year, Ghana had faced a severe cholera outbreak, as of February 17, 2025, 6,300 suspected cholera cases have been recorded with 545 confirmed cases, and 49 deaths.

President Mahama said the outbreak had affected 118 districts across Greater Accra, Central, Western, Ashanti, and Eastern regions.

He said the Government had launched an aggressive vaccination and public education campaign, among other interventions, to control the situation.

“The Upper West Region is also facing a severe meningitis outbreak, with 135 suspected cases, 22 confirmed cases, and 16 deaths reported across ten (10) districts of the region as of 17th February 2025.”

The Government had instituted free treatment for affected persons and deployed a national team of health experts to encourage early reporting to health facilities, President Mahama said.

GNA