In Binduri District, Northern Ghana suspected anthrax outbreak has been reported by the Ghana officials.
The Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi has confirmed one person dead, while 11 others are infected with suspected anthrax after consuming the carcass of dead cattle.
On the 22nd June, 2023, Farm Alert collaborated with distinguished stakeholders of various sectors in discussing ANTHRAX OUTBREAK IN GHANA, IMPACT AND LESSONS FOR VETERINARIANS IN WEST AFRICA.
The Hub Experts involved were:
1. Professor Folorunso Fasina,
Global Coordinator, One Health Epidemic Intelligence and Early Warning, FAO, Rome
2. AIG Aishatu Abubakar Baju,
President, Veterinary Council of Nigeria
3. Dr. C. Vakuru,
Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria,
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
4. Dr. Patrick Abakeh,
Director, Veterinary Services Directorate,
Ghana
5. Peter Awin
Co-Founder, Cowtribe Inc
Ghana.
6. Dr. Kayode Femi,
Founder & CEO, Farm Alert Limited
Nigeria (Moderator).
This conversation was a very engaging and captivating one with over 250 people in participation. We also got a better insight on the importance of vaccination from the Director/Chief Executive National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom. Dr Maryam Muhammad.
Some of the way forward to tackle these diseases outlined by Prof. Folorunso Fasina are:
- Capacity building of health care workers at subnational level.
- Targeted livestock vaccination and extension service pre-infection.
- Whole of community approach to improve livestock disease reporting systems to reduce time to intervention.
To get the better insights shared in this conversation, kindly watch the attached video on our YouTube.
Don’t forget to share what you learnt with someone else.
Prevention is always the first step.
Thank you for reading