Communities benefit from special Ebola education programme

A two-week European Union-sponsored special educational programme on the Ebola disease, has ended in the Gomoa West District.

Over 10,000 inhabitants in 12 communities in the area benefited from the programme, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Red Cross Society.

Apam, Manford, Dwama, Dego, Obiri, Ankamu, Otsew, Ablekum, Mankoadze, Amanful, Hweda, and Gomoa-Mprumem were the beneficiary communities.

Mr. John K. Aidoo, Central Regional Manager of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Mr. Cletus Baryo and Mr. Abdulai Adams, both of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), and Mr. Justice Peter Ansah, Gomoa West District Organizer of the Red Cross Society, were the resource persons.

People in the beneficiary communities were intensively sensitized on the major Ebola symptoms, such as excessive vomiting, high blood temperature, reddish eyeballs, and severe cold, among others.

Mr. Ansah told the press that the exercise was designed to cover people living in selected towns and villages lying along the coastal belt of the Central Region.

The resource persons warned people living in the beneficiary communities to desist from the eating of bush meat and bats, and ensure that they cooked their meals very well before eating.

They must also ensure that any Ebola-related symptom they might experience was reported to the nearest health facility without delay, for prompt medical attention.

Chiefs and other opinion leaders in the 12 beneficiary towns and villages expressed their appreciation to the EU and the Ghana Government for the programme.

They promised to co-operate with members of the Ghana Red Cross Society operating in the area and officials of the Ghana Health Service, to ensure the success of all health improvement programmes of the Government to improve their health conditions.