MUNICIPAL HEALTH DIRECTORATE IN COLLABRATION WITH USAID BREAKTHROUGH ACTION PROJECT ORGANIZED TRAINING TO THE STAFF AND SOME COMMUNITY MEMBERS ON RISK COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TO IMPROVE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR TOWARDS RABIES AND MONKEY POX ON 21ST MARCH 2023 AT MUNICIPAL HEALTH DIRECTORATE.

On Tuesday 4 July, 2023 the Municipal Health Directorate in collaboration with USAID Breaking through Action Project has been working to strengthen Risk Communication and Community Engagement at all level to improve positive behavior towards Rabies and Monkey Pox. The Dignitaries present were   Ms. Sally Baaba Owusu Addo Health Promotion Officer Ashanti Region, Ms. Elsie Kissi- Appiah Municipal Director of Health Service, Ms.  Dorothy Safoah Adjei   Municipal Deputy Coordinating Director, Dr. Yaw Fenteng Danso Deputy Director Veterinary Services Department and vice Chairman of One Health TWG, Sylvester Segebaya Chief of party Breakthrough Action,  Richard Kabitey  Health Promotion Officer, Ms. Minta Frimpong Municipal Disease Control Officer, Ofori Abraham Veterinary Technology Officer graced the occasion successfully

Going forward the Municipal Healthy Director Ms Elsie Kissi- Appiah in her welcome address,   said  last year they had confirmed cases of rabies and  Monkey pox, The Monkey pox  was infected by an elderly woman in July 2022  but she was responded to treatment accordingly, since then, they have not recorded any case of Monkey Pox in the communities. September 2022 they had a case on rabies, the team made up of Heath directorate and the Veterinary officer did all they could to investigate, since that they have not heard any case of rabies but rather have started the vaccination of dogs in the communities 

an elderly woman who were infected by the virus but are were able to response accordingly and apart from that woman they did not had any case concerning the Monkey pox in our Municipality. And she also said on September 2022 they hard a case on rabies, the team made up of Health directorate and the Veterinary officer did all that they could investigation and everything and they did not hard rabies case again because they did Dog vaccinations.

Ms Elsie Kissi- Appiah said because of these USAID and Ghana Health Service has joined together to support and educate us on Risk Communication.  She said risk Communication is the way we develop and implements messages or effective communication to protect our people in Kwabre East, so that in case of any diseases not only Monkey pox or Rabies any emerging disease Covid 19 all included they will be able to combat it and acted on it accordingly.

Mr. Richard Kabitey   who is a Risk Communicator from Johns Hopkins University took the participant through presentation. He said the USAID Breakthrough Action project in partnership with the GHS has developed the MMRs dashboard to collate information for effective Risk communication on any emerging disease. The aim is to understand the beliefs and fears of the public on vaccine hesitancy and carve out targeted and well-structured behavioral communication to achieve the much desired herd immunity against the disease. During the presentation he also said that the Dashboard is use for gathering data on other communicable diseases.

Ms.  Rita Minta Frimpong Municipal Disease Control Officer on her presentation on Monkey pox said that globally 82,550 cases of Mpox were confirmed 110 countries as at December 2022 and in Ghana confirmed cases were 116. She said that Monkey pox also known as Mpox is a Zoonotic disease (a disease that spreads between animals to Human) that is caused by Mpox virus. Once the person is infected, the disease can spread from one person to another.

According to Ms. Rita she said Symptoms of Mpox usually start between 1-5 day after exposure to virus, a rash may appear first on the face, and palms of the hands, sole of the feet, mouth throat or eyes. Ms. Rita also said that   Mpox is treatable and usually mild (goes away on its own after 2- 4 weeks) but can be severe,  resulting in death ,especially for children pregnant women, and those with health conditions.

Mr. Ofori Abraham Veterinary Technology Officer also took the staff and communities members on various presentation on rabies.

According to Mr. Ofori Rabies is estimated to cause 59000 human death annually in over 150 countries with 95% of cases occurred in Africa and Asia. And 40 percent of all rabies cases recorded in Ghana involved children below 14 years.

He said Rabies, is a Zoonotic disease, is endemic in Ghana and Ashanti region in the south of the country is one of the worst affected.  In rural areas, rabies cases often go unreported, as awareness of the disease is low and surveillance is sub-optimal. He said that to reach the global goal of zero dog- mediated rabies death by 2030, different sectors have to work together and collaborate, employed a one Health approach.
At the end of presentation the participant had opportunity to ask the veterinary officers questions related to animal and veterinary medicine.

Sylvester Segebaya Chief of party USAID Breaking through Action Project indicates that  USAID Breakthrough Action Global health Security project is working with GHS,VSD,GES and other one health partners to effectively  address high  risk behaviors associated with priority Zoonotic disease and other emerging threats and mitigate the impact of future public health events. He said that they are currently focusing on Marburg, Mpox and Rabies in Selected region and districts.