The Western Regional Director of the Veterinary Services, Dr Simon Gbene has said the one health approach consisting of animals, humans and the ecosystem is to ensure sustainability of life on the planet as none can live without the other, adding that, it is needed to address shared health threats at the human-animal-environment interface.
He stressed the need for awareness creation on zoonotic diseases and increase knowledge of the problems zoonotic diseases can cause for humans and animals.
According to him, zoonotic diseases are diseases shared between humans and animals, saying, three out of every four new diseases discovered are spread by animals.
Dr Gbene said this at a Risk Communication and Community Engagement Sub-Committee meeting in Takoradi.
Touching on rabies, he noted that, the fight against rabies is not a departmental affair but rather a societal issue. He said, children are the most vulnerable when it comes to rabies infections and called on parents and guardians to ensure their kids stay away from touching dogs, especially ones they are not familiar with.
Dr Gbene stated that 59 thousand people die every year as a result of rabies and cautioned dog owners to ensure to vaccinate their dogs regularly as mandated by the law of risk prosecution.
The Western Regional Surveillance Officer, Ghana Health Service, Dennis Jubin giving statistics on the Anthrax disease mentioned that there were 13 confirmed cases of anthrax and one death as of June 8, 2023.
According to him, butchers and animal traders, herdsmen, people who consume meat from dead animals and veterinarians among others are the most vulnerable when it comes to anthrax.
He therefore, cautioned Ghanaians to report signs and symptoms such as fever, sore throat and painless lesions among others to the nearest health facility for treatment as early detection forms part of the prevention measures and breaks the mode of transmission.
For his part, the Chief Party, USAID Breakthrough Action Programme, Sylvester Sabaya said the fight against zoonotic disease is a collaborative effort and called on stakeholders to come together to ensure its eradication. He said some of the systems in the country are not working and it is time for those systems to be revamped to bring sanity into the system.
