Ghana has broken transmission of guinea worm - Veep

Tamale, July 28, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday declared Ghana as having broken the indigenous transmission of the guinea worm disease since she reported the last case 14 months ago.

He explained that going 14 months without an indigenous case of guinea worm being reported meant that the nation had passed one incubation cycle o= f the guinea worm and had therefore broken the transmission of the disease. By this feat Ghana becomes the 17th country in Africa to have broken the transmission of guinea worm. Vice President Mahama made the declaration at the Annual mid-year review of the Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP) in Tamale on Thursday. The review meeting was on the theme: 93Interruption of Guinea Worm Transmission, the Result of Our Collective Effort".

The Vice President also announced that the reward for anyone who reported or produced a verified guinea worm case to the health authorities had been increased from 100 to 200 Ghana cedis.

"We ask the population to continue to look for the disease in the ye= ars to come and therefore are increasing the reward. We have a vast country and guinea worm can also be re-introduced from other countries, so we must keep our guard up with on-going surveillance," he said. He said to ensure that the disease did not resurface, government was making substantial investments into the provision of clean drinking water t= o guinea worm endemic areas. He expressed the hope that the expansion of small town water supply systems throughout the country would not only increase access to potable water and help prevent the disease from resurfacing but also minimize the outbreak of other preventable water diseases such as cholera. The Vice President commended the media for the sustained manner in which it continued to report on issues concerning guinea worm and helping t= o educate as well as mobilise public opinion to take preventive measures against contracting the disease.

Mr Joseph Yeileh Chireh, Minister of Health, commended previous governments and all past health ministers for their tireless contributions which had led to the success story of the final eradication of guinea worm in the country. He also commended the country's development partners particularly th= e Cater Centre for its immense technical and financial support in the 93war against guinea worm".

Dr Andrew Seidu Korkor, National Programme Manager of the GWEP, who chronicled the history of the fight against guinea worm in the country, sai= d from 1988 to 1989 there were a total of 179,556 cases of guinea worm from 6,515 endemic villages throughout the country.

He said however by 1994 due to the hard work of village volunteers who undertook surveillance, case management and education of the people, the number of cases of the disease dropped by 95 percent. He said in 2008, a total of 501 cases were reported, an 85 percent reduction from 3,358 cases during 2007.

This, he said, was unprecedented in the history of the GWEP and represented 99.7 percent reduction from the original case count of 179.556 in 1989. Dr Korkor said since then there had been no turning back, resulting in only eight cases reported in 2010, all of which were contained and no case had been reported since May 2010.

The Programme manager of the GWEP said July 2011 marked a significant milestone in the eradication of guinea worm, adding; 93As of today, we hav= e gone through the 14 months without reporting a single case of guinea worm i= n Ghana". He said it is hoped that a field evaluation to be conducted by an independent external team in November 2011 would be able to confirm whether indeed interruption of the disease had been actually achieved. Dr Korkor however cautioned; 93The way is not over yet until interruption of transmission is certified in three years' time. Re-infect= ion can still occur if we become complacent and imported cases go undetected"= .. Mr Mose Bukari Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister, said his region, which was once described as a disaster guinea worm area, had to put in strong measures not only to contain the disease but work towards its complete eradication. He said some of the measures included the enactment of by-laws by the assemblies to address indiscipline and curb contamination of sources of drinking water, all of which had contributed greatly to the realization of the dream.