Eleven guinea worm cases reported in five districts in Ashanti

Five endemic districts in the Ashanti Region recorded 11 guinea worm cases in the first quarter of this year, Mr Ernest Asiedu Kwapong, Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of the Guineaworm Eradication Programme, has said.

He said Atwima had the highest figure of five cases, Kwabre and Offinso, two each, Sekyere East and Ahafo-Ano South, one case each.

Mr Kwapong was speaking on the state of guinea worm eradication in the region and the role of the district assemblies at an update and review meeting on guineaworm eradication in Kumasi on Thursday.

The Co-ordinator stressed the need for District Chief Executives, District Director of Health Services and departmental heads to do effective surveillance on guineaworm eradication, both on local and imported cases.

Mr Kwapong said available statistics indicated that there were 15 endemic villages, which do not have safe drinking water and five out of this were in the Nyinahin Sub-District of Atwima.

Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, expressed his satisfaction about the efforts the Ghana Health Service was making to eradicate the disease and called on the DCEs to comply with the directive to commit one percent of the district assemblies' common fund to the eradication of the disease.

He said health is very important since the collective efforts of all facets of society is measured by the health of a population and that health indicators serve as the basis for measuring the success of government programmes.

The Regional Minister said, "Good health is both the cause and consequences of economic success that is why the government has the determination and commitment to improve access and equity to essential health care as part of its poverty reduction strategy."

Mr Boafo called on the DCEs to get personally involved with other stakeholders like water providers and NGOs in the water sector to support the guineaworm eradication programme to fight the disease in the region.

Dr Kofi Asare, Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, said the region had been able to reduce its reported cases from 987 to 39 and from 127 endemic villages to 25 as at 2002.

He told the DCEs that there were contracts for boreholes in their communities and urged them to ensure that the projects were carried out to provide safe water for the people.

Mr Kenneth Baffoe Maison, Ashanti Regional Chief Manager of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), stressed the need for the public to refrain from illegal connection of water supply, which lead to water leakages.

He also called on consumers to pay their water bills promptly to enable the company to provide quality water and regular service.

Mr Owusu Konadu, Ashanti Regional Engineer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, said the agency had water project in all the 18 districts of the region and beneficiary communities were selected by the district assemblies.

He called on district assemblies to take into consideration the existence of water-borne diseases in the selection of communities to benefit from the project.

This, Mr Konadu said would help not only in the provision of safe water but also assist in the eradication of the guinea worm disease.

He indicated that the agency had been able to provide about 650 boreholes, 150 hand-dug wells with close to 3,000 household latrines and 50 latrines for schools in the various districts in the region since the agency started operation in the region in 1994.