JICA donate items to support Guinea worm eradication programme

Accra, May 6, GNA - Japan International Cooperation Agency, (JICA) on Friday presented items worth 24,237 dollars to support the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme in the country.

The items included vehicles, motorbikes and bicycle for surveillance personnel, mosquito nets as incentives for village volunteers and pipe filters for villagers in guinea worm endemic areas.

The donation is part of a three-year joint project for guinea worm eradication ending in November 2007.

Mr Kenichi Shishido, JICA Resident Representative, presenting the items said JICA would dispatch a Japanese expert in water management to help endemic villages to treat their water.

He said 500,000 pipe filters would be procured for people in the endemic districts in the Northern Region.

Mr Shishido said guinea worm was still a top-priority disease and needed more attention as it caused lower productivity in endemic areas. He expressed the hope that the project would contribute to the improvement of people's health status in the endemic areas and enhance their economic and social development.

Mrs Gladys Ashitey, Deputy Minister of Health, said the Government was committed to improving the living conditions of everybody in the country and called for more support for the eradication programme.