Following the outbreak of polio in the Chereponi District in Northern Region, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have deployed a team of medical officers to investigate and map out areas affected for a reactive vaccination campaign.
This was announced by the Director-General of Ghana Health Service, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, in a press release on Friday.
Dr. Nsiah Asare in the release mentioned that polio was a highly infectious disease, which mainly affects young children, adding that children less than five years of age stood a high risk of Polio.
According to him, the infection spreads from person to person, mainly through the oral-faecal route.
He said symptoms of polio at the early stage include; fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, neck stiffness and pains in the limbs. It has the potential to cause paralysis of the limbs which could be permanent.
"People who lived in areas with poor sanitation were also at high risk of contracting the sickness," he added.
On prevention, the Director-General said that polio could be stopped by vaccination, improved sanitation and personal hygiene. Polio treatment, according to him, is mainly by caregiving.
He, therefore, urged the public to practice good personal hygiene and environmental sanitation and also advised parents to closely observe symptoms of polio in their children and report to the nearest health facility for immediate medical attention.
"The District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies were also reminded of their role to ensuring sanitation as well as ensuring that the bye-laws were strictly enforced," the Director-General said.
Dr. Nsiah Asare assured the general public that the MoH and GHS would continue to work with their partners to contain the situation by providing preventive and protective measures against the spread of the disease.
He indicated that updates on the disease would be given periodically to inform the general public.
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