K M A INAUGURATES PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

An eleven member public health emergency management committee to co-ordinate preparedness and response activities for cholera in the Kumasi metropolis has been inaugurated by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in Kumasi.

Among its terms of reference, the committee will plan prevention and control intervention for cholera, define populations at risk for cholera outbreaks, identify important resources needed for rapid epidemic response and update information on these resources at the local and national levels and estimate the requirements for the control of cholera outbreaks in terms of drugs, vaccines,human resources, transport and financial resources.

Inaugurating the committee on behalf of management of KMA, Mr. A.A. Amankwah, a director at the KMA said health management was important hence the inauguration of the committee to respond quickly to emergencies.

He said prevention rather than cure was a critical issue of health management and called for stronger collaboration and effective communication of all stakeholders to enable the committee live up to expectation.

The chairperson of the committee, Dr. Alberta Biritwum Nyarko, the Metro Health Director said recent cholera outbreaks in the country had brought to the fore the challenges of institutional structures to effectively prevent and respond to outbreaks.

She said the system was saddled with late case detection and delayed response. According to her in April 2016, Greater Accra region confirmed two cases of cholera with no death. She said Ashanti region had maintained surveillance on Acute Water Diarrhea (AWD) and though several cases had been suspected because of high alert, no case of cholera had been confirmed in the Kumasi city yet.