Health

On 28 June 2022, two suspected viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) cases were notified to health authorities in the Ashanti region, Ghana (Figure 1). This region is located in the middle belt of Ghana and is the most populated region in the country.  The first case was a 26-year-old male who was a farm worker in Adansi North district, Ashanti region with a travel history to the Western region. Prior to symptom onset on 24 June, he arrived from the Western region to Ashanti region. He sought care at a hospital on...

Accra – A backpack containing simple but essential medicines and supplies is all Antoinette Nuselie Segla, principal community health nurse, needs to embark on a health outreach in Fadama, a populous community in the north of Ghana’s capital, Accra.Segla and her team of three other nurses attend to more than 50 caregivers and their children during clinic days at the compound of the Chief Imam of Fadama. That was until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fear of contracting the virus has kept people away from seeking health services.“When they...

  Ghana’s government is striving to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), yet financing issues remain a challenge. To address this issue, Ghana hosted a Health Financing Forum from 25 to 27 November 2019, under the theme, “Sustainable Health Financing for Universal Health Coverage (UHC).” To achieve UHC, Ghana has identified Primary Health Care (PHC) as one of the key strategies in implementing its National Roadmap for UHC. The purpose of the meeting was to identify priorities and actions for achieving sustainable financing for UHC, through the revision of the National Health...

In Nigeria, from 3 to 30 January 2022, 211 laboratory confirmed Lassa fever cases including 40 deaths (case fatality ratio: 19%) have been cumulatively reported in 14 of the 36 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory across the country (Figure 1). Three states account for 82% of confirmed cases: Ondo (63), Edo (57) and Bauchi (53). The other states affected are Benue (11), Ebonyi (5), Oyo (5), Taraba (5), Kogi (4), Enugu (2), Kaduna (2), Cross River (1), Delta (1), Katsina (1) and Plateau (1) (Figure 2).Of the 211...