Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Kavinah Sory, has assured communities along the Black Volta Lake of government’s resolve to eliminate river blindness scare for a safe and healthy environment.
He said the black flea menace has over the years been curtailed within the endemic areas from the North to the Southern Sector.
Director-General of Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Kavinah Sory
Dr Sory disclosed this in an exclusive interview with TODAY in Accra when he was reacting to concerns raised by the Bole District Disease Control Officer, Mr David Bakari, over the perceived black flea scare which occurs between the month of June/July, which poses nuisance to the discomfort of health workers in the district, especially the Tinga Health post in the district.
Allaying the fears of health workers in the area, Dr Sory explained that the Ghana Health Service has taken pragmatic preventive measures which include the distribution of Avecmetin drug to residents in the affected communities which he said was effective in expelling multiple worms including the much dreaded elephantiasis worms.
“During rainy season we do send our men to areas considered as endemic for research purpose upon which some of the insects are caught for observation to ascertain if they carry the river blindness organism,” he told TODAY.
“We undertake periodical studies on their movement coupled with occasional spray on any possible areas considered to have been invaded by the flea. This assignment is mostly carried out by the National Onchosiatic Control Group upon which our efforts over the years have yielded dividend as most insects that had the potentials of carrying the virus have been curtailed,” he added.
He said the Onchosiatic programme started way back in 1974 during which the entire farming community along the Fumbissi river basin in the Upper West Region with much fertile lands were rendered incapacitated due to the scourge of river blindness.
He pointed out that the black fleas consist of two species with that of the North known to be carrying the blindness organism whilst the flea in the South does not have the virus.
Dr Sory indicated that when it became apparent that the blindness had been reduced considerably, the World Health Organization (WHO) which is the sponsor of the programme decided to move the office to Hohoe in the Volta region to study the flea movement in the Southern sector.
He further stated that his outfit is currently studying the Bui terrain to assess the potency of the fleas in the vicinity if it carried the river blindness disease in the wake of the construction of the Bui Hydro power dam.
Dr Sory also revealed that government has taken delivery of dozens of pick up vehicles to be distributed to various deprived health centres across the nation which according to him was intended to alleviate the inconveniences of health workers and patients in those areas.
He observed that most health posts in the hinterland lacked operational vehicles in their locality and expressed optimism that the arrival of the pick-up vehicles will be of immense beneficial to the recipient for their daily routine activities.
STORY: ANTHONY KWESI COOMSON
