Ghana remains at high risk of Ebola

The team of specialised medical doctors from China, headed by Dr Wang Gang, on Friday, January 16, 2014 organised a training of trainers’ programme for over a 100 people in Accra as part of efforts by the Chinese Government to augment Ghana’s effort at preventing an outbreak of the deadly virus in the country.

The programme brought together student leaders from the University of Ghana, traditional rulers and other stakeholders, who received training on effective ways of preventing an outbreak of the disease.

Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, Li Jiang said the training programme forms part of the Chinese government’s efforts at helping the West African sub-region effectively prevent and manage the Ebola disease.

In furtherance of this, he said the Chinese Government in October 2014 provided five million RMB protecting materials to Ghana and described that training programme as “another action from China government to assist Ghana against Ebola.”

Leader of the team, Dr Wang Gang told The Finder at the sidelines of the summit that the mission of the team in Ghana is to offer technical help to Ghanaian doctors on effective ways of preventing and managing the disease in an event of an outbreak.

The team will be working with doctors at Ghana‘s premier teaching hospital, Korle Bu, over a period of one year.

Dr Samuel Kaba, Director, Institutional Care at the Ghana Health Service, who graced the occasion, enumerated some major steps taken by the Government of Ghana in the fight against the disease.

He mentioned that as part of government’s plan to effectively contain and manage the disease in an event of an outbreak, all regional hospitals across that country have isolation and containment centres to hold any suspected case until a Rapid Response Team arrives to attend to the patient.

Additionally, he said over a 1,000 people have been trained in contact tracing to help easily identify suspected cases for treatment.

He said Ghana is not only the hub for medical supply for Ebola in West Africa but also actively on the frontlines of assisting affected countries.

He mentioned that, currently, 42 Ghanaian volunteers are helping relief efforts in Liberia, an Ebola-affected country.

These notwithstanding, he admitted that a lot more needs to be done to up the efforts being made by government. He, therefore, congratulated the Chinese medical team for the support.

Co-ordinator of the training programme, Madam Victoria Esenam Assah-Offei, Clinical Psychologist and Assemblywoman for Legon Electoral Area, said although the Government of Ghana has put in place some measures to create awareness aimed at preventing an outbreak of the disease, there are still some constraints that would make it difficult for the country to effectively contain and manage an outbreak.

She stressed that Ebola continues to pose economic and security risk to the development of the country, and called for collaborative efforts at keeping the country safe from the disease.

She charged participants of the programme to get actively involved in the campaign in creating awareness on the disease.

Chairman of the programme, Dr Edward Kwapong, a lawyer and HR practitioner, emphasised preventive methods as Ghana’s best bet at keeping the disease from entering the country.

He charged authorities who he described as time managers to “put on a high level of emotional intelligence” in the campaign to raise awareness about the disease.

The Chinese medical team took participants through sessions on basic information on Ebola, mode of transmission, symptoms, and basic preventive measures.

The team stressed, particularly, on basic personal hygiene such as proper hand washing with soap and early reporting for medical care as the most effective ways of preventing and containing the disease.