Guinea worm cases in NR go down

Back page June 5/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine, Tamale

GUINEA worm infection, the bane of many rural communities in the country, has drastically reduced in the Northern Region as a result of improved eradication efforts by the Ghana Health Services (GHS).
As of the end of April 2008, the region had recorded only 215 cases, as against 2,417 the same period in 2007, representing a 91 per cent reduction.
However, in spite of that achievement, maternal deaths in the region have reached alarming proportions.
According to figures from the service, 115 cases were recorded in the region in 2007, as against 92 in the previous year.
The Regional Director of the service, Dr Akwasi Twumasi, announced these when the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, inaugurated the Hajj Adams Clinic in Tamale.
Elaborating on the guinea worm cases, Dr Twumasi said the people were being educated to avoid using water from streams and river bodies without boiling it.
He said last year the region recorded a marginal decrease in the total infection rate from 3,679 in 2006 to 3,237 in 2007.
Dr Twumasi was of the view that with more clinics being built and an improved educational programme, the situation would be far different this year as the records already showed.
On maternal deaths, he said about 20 per cent of the women reported to the health facilities only in the third trimester of pregnancy, making it impossible for them to benefit from the full package of interventions available.
He said when it came to delivery, only 26 per cent were attended to by skilled attendants in 2007, adding, “No wonder our maternal deaths keep going up.”
He said although the region had six hospitals, seven districts had no hospitals at all.
He said considering the distances that referrals had to cover in times of serious emergencies, most of them perished on their way.
Dr Twumasi said skilled personnel, particularly doctors and technicians, to man the facilities continued to pose serious challenges for the health service.
“We have only 35 medical assistants in the region, instead of the required 232, representing only 15 per cent of what is required,” he said.
He said the region had 297 midwives, instead of 390, and out of the total 88 were expected to retire in the next five years.
The situation with the general nurses, he said, was no better, because out of the 817 nurses needed, only 251 were available, adding that the region was operating at a staff strength of only 36 per cent.
The Vice-President, for his part, commended the owner of the clinic for his contribution to the health delivery system in the country.
He said the government was unable to do all by itself, hence the need for the private sector to partner it in health care delivery.
Alhaji Mahama said the government had created the necessary enabling environment for people who wanted to venture into the provision of health care to do so without stress.