The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named Ghana among 27 African countries that risk having yellow fever outbreak any time in the near future.
The caution has come due to the fact that the country has become one of the preferred destinations on the African continent, a situation that can easily trigger the outbreak of the deadly fever.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Diseases Prevention Officer of the WHO, Dr. Sally-Ann Ohene, disclosed this at a Yellow Fever Prevention Programme in Accra.
The programme was organised by the Nuguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), which was marking its 40th anniversary with the theme, “Yellow fever elimination: What is new?”.
Dr. Ohene therefore noted that Ghana needed to improve on vaccination coverage at high risk areas, while ensuring that there was a stock pile of vaccines easily available to effectively sustain efforts at eliminating the threat.
A member of the Department of Parasitology at the NMIMR, Dr. Samuel Kweku Dadzie, noted that globalisation has increased the risk of the spread of the disease, adding that “in the next couple of years, there may be an outbreak in some African countries if precautions are not heeded to”.
DAP/GIK/APA