Over 60 percent of food vendors in Kwahu West have typhoid fever

Nkawkaw, March 4, GNA - Over 60 percent of food vendors screened in Kwahu West district have typhoid fever, a recent medical screening exercise has shown. The exercise organised by Syband, a health promotion Non Governmental Organization, screened a total 3,633 food vendors in the Kwahu West Municipality for the past one month.

Mr Asare Boateng, a Disease Control Officer of Syband, disclosed this to Ghana News Agency at Nkawkaw on Thursday. He said the exercise also indicated that a greater number of the food vendors were hypertensive. Other diseases screened were tuberculosis, diabetics and blood pressure.

Syband later presented data on the exercise to the Municipal Assembly and the Municipal Health Directorate to see how best they could be assisted to seek treatments. Mr Boateng attributed the high rate of the typhoid fever cases to poor environmental hygiene such as improper disposal of feacal matters and advised the vendors to always remember to wash their hands with soap after visiting the toilet. He said since typhoid fever was a communicable disease, those food vendors could easily transmit it to people, who patronize their food. Mr Boateng advised those with diabetics to avoid eating late at night. He added that they should take their breakfast, lunch and supper at the appropriate time to help control the disease. 4 March 10