Cholera, typhoid cases on the rise in flood affected areas

Dam spillage: Health centres recording water borne disease cases

Gertrude Ankah Health Oct - 23 - 2023 , 18:11

Health centres have started recording cases of cholera and typhoid in some of the communities affected by the floods following the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams, a public health practitioner, Abraham Norman Nortey, has said.

According to him, although the people are not drinking the water, they are cooking and bathing with it hence the water-borne diseases being recorded at the health centres.

“Our team has been involved in diligent monitoring and evaluation of the situation. Our reports on the grounds reveal a disturbing increase in the cases of water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid”, he stated.

In a radio interview on Accra based 3FM on Monday [Oct 23], Abraham Norman Nortey said measures are underway to ensure the situation does not escalate.

“...the Ministry has responded to some of these issues, and the government as a whole has also set up an inter-ministerial committee to be able to oversee these issues.”

He added, “There have been other NGOs, individuals, and personnel that have come to donate to these individuals but still the issue has to do with the fact that when this spillage occurred most of their latrines got submerged in this river and these individuals are bathing with this same water, they are cooking with this same water, they are not drinking the water though they are bathing and at the same time cooking with it and this has a lot of public health issue.”

On September 15, 2023, the Volta River Authority (VRA) initiated a controlled spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong hydroelectric dams due to rising water levels from upstream.

The controlled spillage intensified over the days, submerging multiple communities and leading to the displacement of approximately 26,000 residents.