Ghana Health Service explains decision to disinfect only exterior surfaces of containers at the ports

The Ghana Health Service has justified and explained the reason why its impending import and export disinfection at the ports is targeted at only the exterior surfaces of containers arriving or leaving the country.

Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie, explains that the various export countries have their national standards authorities and foods and drugs authorities who ensure that all goods leaving their jurisdictions are wholesome and meet standards before they are packed into the containers.

‘’Every country has laws enforced by their respective standards authority and foods and drugs authority to ensure the safety of items being exported. Therefore items packaged into various vessels and containers, have already been vetted by the respective enforcement agencies in each export country. What no one has control over is what happens when the vessel is on the high seas."

According to Dr. Badu Sarkodie, the problem has to do with the numerous stops the vessel makes while on the high seas.

“These ships dock at various ports on their way to the country. We cannot tell what kind of contamination or infection these vessels come into contact with. This is the reason why we are focusing on the exterior surfaces. Rodents in particular make their way into the various ports and find their way into the vessels once they dock. Once this happens any infection or virus the rodent is carrying is automatically transmitted to the vessels and therein lies the problem,” he said.

Indeed the numerous types of infectious diseases and contaminations that abound in the seas are of great concern to all players in the international trade arena. This is because 99.9 percent of the country’s trade is seaborne. Given the statistics about the huge numbers of viruses on the high seas, it is necessary and logical to ensure the safety and security of imports and exports. Our health and safety is non-negotiable.

Viruses in the sea

It is estimated that there are approximately 10 million viruses in every drop of surface seawater. Viruses fill the ocean and have a significant effect on ocean biology.

According to a new study that reveals striking recurring patterns of marine virioplankton dynamics in the open sea, “microbial interactions, between oceanic viruses and bacteria, take place on the nanometer scale but are extremely important in governing the flow of energy and the cycling of nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus on the ecosystem scale of the world’s oceans,” says Craig A. Carlson, professor of ecology, evolution, and marine biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has studied microbes in the water column of the Saragasso Sea, off of Bermuda, for a decade.

Ghana Health Service’s pre-emptive plan to ensure the disinfection of the exterior and outer surfaces of containers should be lauded. All stakeholders must lend a hand for the common good of Ghana. We must be proactive. Let’s not wait for an epidemic and lose lives before we act.