6:46 AM | Posted by Darey
The Minister of Health and President of ECOWAS Assembly of Health Ministers, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that from January 2010 to date, meningitis had hit seven countries of West Africa, causing 1,720 deaths.
“In truth, epidemic-prone diseases have always prevailed in our environment. Cholera alone has caused in 2010, approximately 1900 deaths in 8 countries; meningitis hit 7 countries since January 2010, causing 1,720 deaths; measles a disease placed in test phase, is growing every year, reflecting not only the weakness of our health systems, but also their inability to sustain gains achieved with the mass action through international support,” he said.
Prof Chukwu, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja during the Second Extraordinary Assembly of Health Ministers of ECOWAS, said that the region has the highest rates of epidemic-prone diseases despite the enormous efforts devoted for increased disease surveillance, preparedness and response.
The minister said that despite the outbreaks of diseases recorded in all countries of our community, mortality rates have decreased significantly.
“This fact in itself means that with better organisation and capacity building interventions, we can surely achieve positive results in the control of epidemics,” he said.
He said that WAHO has tried to make the fight easy by developing a 2011-2014 regional support plan for epidemic prone disease control in the ECOWAS region.
Also speaking, Dr. Placido Cardoso, Director General of WAHO said “our mandate requires that we support the efforts of ECOWAS member-states to reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality due to epidemic-prone diseases and their negative impact on socio-economic development in the region
“It is also our responsibility to lead a dynamic regional coordination of preparedness and response to epidemics, in collaboration with states, technical and financial partners.” he said.
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