The Western Regional Chapter of the Network of Muslim Professionals-Ghana (NMPG) has embarked on an awareness creation programme on the cholera and Ebola diseases for Muslim chiefs, council of Imams, Muslim women associations, schoolchildren and various mosque management committees.
The Western Regional Chapter of the Network of Muslim Professionals-Ghana (NMPG) has embarked on an awareness creation programme on the cholera and Ebola diseases for Muslim chiefs, council of Imams, Muslim women associations, schoolchildren and various mosque management committees.
The NMPG noted that the outbreak of the Ebola virus in some parts of West Africa was a matter of great concern to the organisation and added that it believed that it was its duty to support communities with programmes that would sensitise them to the diseases.
The group targeted central mosques in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, including those in Effiakuma, Sekondi, Kwesimintsim and Takoradi.
The Executive President of NMPG, Mr Mohammed K. Balla, said considering the urgency of the situation, with regard to the fast rate at which Ebola and cholera were spreading in parts of the world and Ghana respectivley, it had become pertinent that the group got actively involved in educating Muslims in the metropolis.
He also stated that as a network of Muslim professionals in the region, the members had made it a priority to seek the welfare of Ghanaians, particularly the Muslim Ummah (community).
Mr Balla entreated members of the various mosque management committees to also get involved in disseminating information on the diseases.
“We expect that congregations in mosques would be gathered periodically in centrally located worshipping places and taught about the diseases,” he said.
In presentations in various mosques, Madam Mildred Komey, a Health Promotion Officer with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), explained to the groups the mode of transmission of the diseases, their signs and symptoms and ways of preventing attacks.
She urged them to report early to any health facility with any illness they might have, saying Ebola could be treated when detected early.
Madam Komey, who led a team of health workers, further urged them to not handle raw meat with their bare hands but wear gloves and ensure that it is cooked very well. She also advised against eating bush meat since Ebola was spread through contact with some animals in the wild that carry the virus.
She said where possible people must cut back on handshakes and wash their hands with soap under running water whenever they visited the toilet and also use hand sanitisers.
