The Ghana Health Service (GHS), has disclosed that at least five more persons have succumbed to yellow fever in the Savannah Region as at today November 25, 2021 bringing the death toll to 34 since the outbreak of the disease in the region last month.
According to the Ghana Health Service, cases of the yellow fever disease are being recorded in districts across the Savannah Region. Giving an update on the rate of infection in the region, the Savannah Regional director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Chrysantus Kubio, revealed that for now each of the seven districts have reported cases.
“We have a total of 184 suspected cases and the death toll now is thirty-four, fifteen from West Gonja,[and] eight from North Gonja. Three each from three districts and one each from the two other districts”.
Dr. Kubio
Dr. Chrysantus Kubio touching on the response by the residents across the districts to the ongoing yellow fever vaccination exercise, indicated that the response has not been the same at the various vaccination points.
“We are looking at communities that have reported cases and vaccinated successful people against the disease. We are checking on their immunization status and vaccinating all people who have not been vaccinated against the disease”.
Dr. Kubio
The exercise, according to Dr. Kubio, is ongoing in North Gonja and West Gonja and they will be continuing with the exercise. He said the Savannah Region initially received a total of 50, 000 doses of Yellow fever vaccine and have used part of its routine vaccines.
“We have requested for 50,000 more vaccines to help cover other places”.
Dr. Kubio
Yellow fever outbreak
The Ghana Health Service on 29th October, 2021 announced the outbreak of suspected Yellow Fever in the Savannah Region.
The viral infection, spread by a particular specie of mosquito, was recorded in the West Gonja Municipality and the North Gonja District of the Savannah region. The infection, however, spread to the various districts killing some persons within the affected areas.
To bring the outbreak under control, the Ghana Health Service started vaccinating people in the two assemblies, with the hope of extending it across the region.
Speaking on the outbreak, Mr. Thomas Suuri, the Disease Control Officer at the Ghana Health Service in the Savannah Region, stated that about 90% of residents in affected communities in the North Gonja District have been vaccinated.
Mr. Suuri urged residents in the region, especially those within the affected communities to get vaccinated. He explained that once a person is vaccinated, he or she has the immunity against the disease and even if they get bitten by the mosquito, they will not come down with the disease.
In the quest to get the residents to vaccinate, the Member of Parliament for Salaga North Constituency in the Savannah Region, Alhassan Abdallah Iddi, led a team of health personnel to vaccinate residents against Yellow Fever. This, he said, is to encourage residents in the affected areas to vaccinate fully against the infection.
