The Member of Parliament for Garu in the Upper East Region, Dr. Thomas Winsum Anabah, has raised concerns over the alarming increase in meningitis cases in Ghana, urging the Ministry of Health to investigate the situation. The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh on Tuesday told parliament that the country has recorded more than 120 cases of meningitis with 16 deaths as of Sunday, February 16.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Dr. Anabah questioned why Ghana continues to record high cases of meningitis while other countries within the meningitis belt, from Senegal to Ethiopia, have not reported significant outbreaks in the past two years.
“When I checked current reports, none of the countries in the meningitis belt has been suffering from meningitis for the past two years. From Senegal to Ethiopia, and in Ghana, the pathogen that is normally causing meningitis is not the one this time. It is a different one, which does not respond to the vaccine that is used for the one that we know,” he stated.
According to the MP, the emergence of a different strain of meningitis in Ghana that does not respond to existing vaccines suggests that further epidemiological research is necessary. He called on the Ministry of Health and public health experts to investigate whether the misuse of antibiotics in Ghana may be contributing to the virulence of the new strain.
“Could it be that we are abusing antibiotics and that is why this particular strain is so virulent and causing more meningitis? Let’s research into it, because if Burkina Faso, which has the harshest conditions of the harmattan, is not experiencing meningitis this year, why should it be Ghana? And even in Ghana, the Upper East Region is not experiencing it,” he added.
Dr. Anabah urged the government to deploy epidemiologists and laboratory researchers to analyze the situation and find lasting solutions to Ghana’s recurrent meningitis outbreaks.
“Let’s make sure our epidemiologists and laboratories research into it and see whether we will identify the reason why we have repeated meningitis in Ghana every year, while countries in the meningitis belt are free from it. Burkina Faso, for example, has used the vaccine that is good for pneumococcal meningitis, and it has worked well for them. They have not experienced meningitis for the past three years,” he explained.
The MP’s call for action comes as Ghana continues to grapple with rising cases of meningitis, particularly in the northern parts of the country.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah
