Meningitis cases effectively managed. No fatality for past four weeks
Ghana has not recorded any meningitis fatality in the past four weeks while all confirmed cases are being effectively managed to ensure that no more deaths are recorded, the Ministry of Health has indicated.
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As of April 13, 2016, there was a total of 2,184 confirmed cases of the meningitis disease out of which 93 deaths had been recorded across the country except the Central Region since the beginning of this year.
The Minister of Health (MOH), Mr Alex Segbefia, said the Tain and Jaman North districts which crossed the epidemic threshold of 10 out of every 10,000 people sampled for meningitis had also now left the epidemic phase.
He attributed the decline in the fatality rate and the current progress made in managing the disease to the intensive nature of the national response measures, particularly public education.
Mr Segbefia made this known in Accra yesterday when he briefed journalists on the current situation of the disease since it was reported in December 2015.
Interventions
Mr Segbefia said stakeholders focused on enhanced surveillance, improved case management, social mobilisation, risk communication, vaccination and coordination.
“In the early stages, we provided alert to all districts and health facilities and commissioned thorough investigations into the outbreak which identified pneumococcus as the most causative agent,” he said.
According to him, the outcome of the investigations was a major contributor to the success of the national response system.
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Mr Segbefia said a team of health workers were also mobilised and supported to trace and follow up on contacts as a management strategy, conduct reactive vaccination campaigns and vaccinate 200,000 people against type A, C and W of the meningitis in three districts in the Upper West Region as part of interventions.
Other interventions, he said, included the provision and distribution of 7,500 antibiotics to the 10 regions and the involvement of all stakeholders in the ongoing management campaign.
The Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions and their neighbouring districts in the Brong Ahafo and the Volta regions lie in the meningitis belt of Africa, where the condition is endemic.
“The country experiences a number of meningitis cases annually with periodic outbreaks, particularly during the dry and hot weather conditions. October to March has been identified as meningitis season,” he added.
Meningitis
Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord.
The common bacteria which cause meningitis in Ghana are pneumococcal, neisseria meningitides and homophile influenza type B.
The germs that cause it can be passed from one person to another through coughing, sneezing and close contact.
The disease manifests itself as fever, persistent headache, stiff neck, altered consciousness, among other symptoms.
Background
An outbreak of pneumococcal meningitis occurred in December 2015 in the Brohani and Seikwa communities in the Tain District in the Brong Ahafo Region during which initially 31 people were affected of which nine died.
The causative agent was confirmed as streptococcus pneumonia. Response measures were initiated and the outbreak abated.
