By Umaru Sanda Amadu
ACCRA, Ghana
Ghana has begun recording cases of cholera following continuous rain and flooding in the past few weeks.
The Ministry of Health has embarked on a sanitization exercise to assist residents of areas affected by flooding.
Nyamewaa Osei, 34, is one of the victims of cholera. She has been discharged from hospital lives with her family at Odorna, one of the areas hardest hit in the recent floods.
“I think I got the disease from the water in the house,” Osei told Anadolu Agency in an interview.
She said she felt weak after the floods but did not initially know what was wrong with her.
“I started vomiting and also had a running stomach so my family members took me to the hospital,” she said.
Osei is one of eight people who tested positive for cholera in capital Accra.
The patients are suspected to have consumed food contaminated with flood waters that may have been mixed with fecal matter.
“Because of what happened to me, we are now boiling our water and heating our food before eating so that other members of the house will not be affected,” a recovering Osei said.
All affected persons are in the Greater Accra Region.
Over 11,000 cases of the water-borne disease were recorded last year, claiming the lives of 75 people.
Ghana’s Ministry of Health is hoping to curb the situation this time.
“There is currently an inter-ministerial committee which will come out with measures to forestall any further outbreaks,” Tony Goodman, a ministry of health spokesman told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
“We have public health workers who are going around educating people on the cholera issue,” Goodman added.
“We are making sure that people eat and drink hygienic water and food in order not to record any more cases,” the official said.
Officials of the Ghana Meteorological Agency are warning of more rain in the coming days.
They are urging residents to take precautionary measures ahead of time.
