Bolgatanga (Upper East), 25 Jan. '99 --- Cerebro spinal meningitis (CSM), cholera, tuberculosis and anthrax killed 143 persons in the Upper East Region last year. CSM accounted for 88 of the deaths from 434 reported cases as against 764 deaths from 13,958 cases in 199 while eight died from 34 reported anthrax cases against 30 from 212 cases in 1997. TB claimed 28 lives out of 400 cases. Nobody died from TB from the 725 cases reported in 1997. Cholera claimed 39 lives from 1,880. No comparative figure was given for 1997. Dr Joseph Amankwa, Regional Senior Medical Officer in charge of Public Health, gave these figures when giving an overview of the performance of the health sector in the region over the past year at a senior health managers' conference in Bolgatanga. Dr Amankwa said malaria, measles, diarrhoea, cholera and CSM were identified as the main communicable diseases in the region. Malaria recorded 134,189 cases in 1998 as against 119,531 cases in 1997 with the diarrhoea following with 30,549 cases in 1998 against 15,267 in 1997. The number of measles cases also went up from 11,086 in 1997 to 11,485 in 1998. That for HIV/AIDS in 1997 stood at 261 as against 212 in 1998. Dr Amankwa explained that the number of common diseases reported in 1998 outstripped that for 1997. He said since the diseases are seasonal, the Ministry of Health extended its immunisation exercise against CSM before the hot season in 1998. It also conducted extensive education on sanitation and symptoms of anthrax in animals.
Bolgatanga (Upper East), 25 Jan. '99 --- Cerebro spinal meningitis (CSM), cholera, tuberculosis and anthrax killed 143 persons in the Upper East Region last year. CSM accounted for 88 of the deaths from 434 reported cases as against 764 deaths from 13,958 cases in 199 while eight died from 34 reported anthrax cases against 30 from 212 cases in 1997. TB claimed 28 lives out of 400 cases. Nobody died from TB from the 725 cases reported in 1997. Cholera claimed 39 lives from 1,880. No comparative figure was given for 1997. Dr Joseph Amankwa, Regional Senior Medical Officer in charge of Public Health, gave these figures when giving an overview of the performance of the health sector in the region over the past year at a senior health managers' conference in Bolgatanga. Dr Amankwa said malaria, measles, diarrhoea, cholera and CSM were identified as the main communicable diseases in the region. Malaria recorded 134,189 cases in 1998 as against 119,531 cases in 1997 with the diarrhoea following with 30,549 cases in 1998 against 15,267 in 1997. The number of measles cases also went up from 11,086 in 1997 to 11,485 in 1998. That for HIV/AIDS in 1997 stood at 261 as against 212 in 1998. Dr Amankwa explained that the number of common diseases reported in 1998 outstripped that for 1997. He said since the diseases are seasonal, the Ministry of Health extended its immunisation exercise against CSM before the hot season in 1998. It also conducted extensive education on sanitation and symptoms of anthrax in animals.
