Kumasi, Jan. 12, GNA - The Ghana Health Services (GHS) would from March, this year, commence an in-service training programme for health workers, especially nurses and community health assistants, to acquire the requisite skills for easy diagnosis of some tropical diseases. The diseases include schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, elephantiasis and trachoma.

Dr Andrew Adjei Druye, Programs Director in charge of the Health Education Unit of the GHS, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Tuesday. He said the training would be sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

It is designed to expose the beneficiaries to the complexities of the diseases and build their capacity and knowledge so that they could identify them for prompt treatment before they become fully blown. The health workers, after the training, would be expected to embark on regular outreach programmes in the endemic areas to sensitize those communities on the causes, symptoms and prevention of the disease. He said the situation where some people, due to ignorance, blamed those diseases on spiritual forces must end, adding that, a baseline study by GHS last year showed this was fuelling the surge of the diseases especially in northern Ghana and the rural areas. Most of the diseases are curable at an early stage but could be fatal at an advanced stage and he therefore urged health workers to take the training program seriously. Dr Druye said the GHS would also focus on the promotion of personal hygiene to help prevent diseases. 12 Jan. 10