Support affected countries to control Ebola – Health Minister

The Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah has entreated all nations to provide the maximum support to countries affected by the outbreak of Ebola to control its spread from source.

“This is the surest way our sub-region and the entire world would be assured of safety and security from the menace of Ebola”.

Speaking at the high level technical coordination meeting of ECOWAS Partners on Containment of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa held in Accra on Thursday, the health Minister who is also the chair of the technical committee noted that Ebola continues to pose a major threat to public health and security of the people in the sub-region and the world at large and there was the need to ensure it was controlled.

Participants will for the two-day high level meeting acknowledge the efforts of all partners, brief stakeholders on the status of the challenges to draw attention to the need for more coordinated action on the fight against Ebola and eliminate the scourge globally.

They will also among others evaluate the impact of efforts exerted so far, share current situation, define a modality of consultation and coordination, ascertain the role of the private sector in the fight and discuss Ebola reconstruction and return of life to normalcy.

Dr Agyemang-Manu explained that outbreak which was the first of a kind has confirmed cases of 21,086 in Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Spain and the United States of America with two previously affected countries with 8,289 deaths reported.

“Reported case incidence continues to fluctuate in Guinea, but there is no identifiable downward trend and the outbreak continues to spread geographically within the country whiles case incidence has declined to low levels in Liberia, there are signs that incidence has leveled off in Sierra Leone, although transmission remains intense in the west of the country”, he added.

In Ghana, the Health Minister noted that all the 131 suspected cases of Ebola reported and tested at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research proved negative for Ebola and other Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers.

"We therefore have no confirmed case of Ebola but still stand at high risk of infection since there are Ghanaian fishermen from Sierra Leone and Liberia who might return home to join their relatives in Ghana as well as the refugee camp at Budumburam with Liberia citizens who constantly interact with their relatives back in Liberia", he added.

He explained that the experience from Nigeria has revealed that establishing an incident management system would be useful, effective and efficient in the identification, isolation and management of any case of Ebola that would be detected in the country and would be adopted should there be the need.

Representatives from Guinea, and Sierra Leone gave an update of the current situation in their country level, what has been done and the challenges facing them.

Both Representatives called for robust surveillance and a strong coordination of development strategy to help curtail the menace.