Wa, March 5, GNA - The government has supplied 70,525 doses of meningitis W135 vaccines to the Upper West Region to vaccinate people in the Jirapa District. The vaccines were airlifted from Accra to Wa and would be distribut= ed to health facilities to deal with the meningitis in the district.

The Jirapa District has been considered an epidemic zone, recording= 90 cases of the disease with 13 deaths out of 190 reported cases in the regi= on as at the ninth week of the outbreak, health authorities have said. Dr. Alexis Nang-beifubah, Upper West Regional Director of Health Service, said all the vaccines would be sent to Jirapa District to contai= n the spread of the disease there.

He urged all stakeholders in the health sector to manage the information about the disease properly, saying any inaccurate reports abo= ut the disease was likely to cause panic among the people. Dr. Nang-beifubah gave the meningitis update by districts and by we= eks in the region as at March 3 and said Lawra District had registered 31 reported cases but with no death yet.

Wa Municipal confirmed 30 cases at the Regional Hospital with 10 deaths and Nadowli District recorded 20 cases with four deaths. Wa West has also confirmed 17 cases with no deaths, Sissala West and Wa East Districts one case each with no deaths while Sissala East and Lambus= sie districts are yet to register any case. Dr. Nang-beifubah said with the arrival of the appropriate vaccines=

for meningitis W135, its spread would be curtailed soon.

Mr. Prud Abonie, Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) who presented the vaccines to Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister, urged health personnel to swiftly g= o into the communities to vaccinate the people to stop the spread of the disease. Mr. Khalid commended the World Health Organisation for supporting t= he government with vaccines to deal with the disease in the three northern regions. He appealed to the media to always cross check from the health directorate for appropriate and reliable data on the disease before sendi= ng their stories to Accra.