A total of 33 people have died of Meningitis while some 214 others are under treatment in the Upper West Region.
The Ministry of Health has been urged to pay attention to the growing number of cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in the Upper West Region.
About 214 cases of Meningitis have been recorded at some health facilities across the 11 districts of the region.
Presenting a statement in Parliament on Saturday, April 4, 2020, to rally support for enhanced action, the Wa Central Legislator, Rashid Pelpuo called for the immediate application of known remedies to halt the havoc it is causing in that part of the country.
The Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Osei Kuffuor Afreh who disclosed this at a media encounter in Wa on Saturday, April 4, 2020, said the situation has become a major health problem in the Region as people fail to report the endemic to health facilities.
“Currently, our region is saddled with two main health problems. The first one is COVID-19 and the second one is Meningitis. So far we have over 214 recorded cases of Meningitis with about 80 percent of the cases coming from four facilities mainly Nadowli, Jirapa, Nandon and the Wa Municipality.”
“We have also recorded about 33 deaths of Meningitis and the deaths are not confined to one particular district or age group. All age groups are being affected and it is one of the serious things. Mostly every year around this time, between November to March, April, we tend to have cases of Meningitis because the risk factors for Meningitis are very high,” Dr. Osei Kuffuor Afreh said.
In 2015, meningitis occurred in about 8.7 million people worldwide which resulted in 379,000 deaths.