The Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, has tasked the Western Regional Health Directorate to re-strategise its efforts to ascertain the driving force behind the spike in Mpox cases in the region.
According to him, despite efforts to curb the situation, the region is currently the hotspot for the disease, accounting for half of all cases recorded nationwide.
Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe made this remark when officials from the Health Ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) visited the Western Regional Health Directorate in Sekondi.
Data from health officials show that the Western Region has recorded 15 new confirmed cases, bringing the cumulative total to 224 across 13 districts.
It was also revealed that three people are currently on admission, 31 are receiving home care, and 190 have recovered, with zero deaths recorded.
“As we speak, about half of the cases in the country are from the Western Region. “Obviously, this place is the epicentre, and we must do things differently because what we are doing now is not achieving the desired purpose,” Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe said.
He, therefore, tasked health officials to move beyond current interventions and devise new strategies to help stop the spread of Mpox in the region.
WHO Country Representative to Ghana, Dr. Fiona Braka, said the visit was aimed at understanding the causes and drivers of transmission and determining how best to intensify the response to end the outbreak.
She added that eradicating the outbreak would require public health officials and other stakeholders to collaborate, identify the causes of the spread, and respond with appropriate interventions.
Dr. Braka revealed that Ghana would soon receive vaccines as an additional intervention to help combat the disease.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Grace Ayensu-Danquah, commended the regional health directorate for its efforts so far in containing the outbreak but urged them to do more to achieve the desired outcomes.