Regional News of Thursday, 20 February 2003

Source: gna

Bawku West assembly supports CSM immunisation

The Bawku West District Assembly has approved 20 million cedis to fight epidemics.

It also approved nine million cedis to repair a vehicle donated by the European Union for revenue mobilization.

The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Moses Appiah Abaare, said this when he briefed an emergency executive meeting of the assembly in Zebilla on Tuesday.

He said the District Health Management team (DHMT) would use the 20 million-cedi allocation for an immunisation exercise against Cerebro-Spinal-Meningitis (CSM) since the area was within the epidemic zone.

Other diseases such as Hepatitis "B" and typhoid would also be tackled, the DCE said.

The District Director of Health Services, Dr Jonathan Adda, noted that although the CSM situation was not alarming, there was the need to prepare for any eventuality.

He said health facilities at Zebilla and Binaba had recorded eight cases, adding that, the Health Team would carry out an exercise to ensure early detection and treatment of the disease.

He cautioned the public against repeated doses of the vaccine because an overdose could have adverse effects.

Dr Adda charged officials to keep records regularly since they could be used to investigate adverse effects.

He assured the public that the situation was not as bad was the case in Burkina Faso where dozens of people have died.

Dr Adda appealed to the people protect them by taking the vaccine.