He said government was therefore concerned with the outbreak of Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in the Upper West Region.

Dr Oko Boye said this when he and his entourage paid a courtesy call on the Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih as part of a two-day working visit to the region.
The Deputy Health Minister appreciated the regional team for the hard work in managing the two public health threats namely CSM and COVID-19.

He said his visit was to afford him the opportunity to have first-hand information on what was happening to deal with the challenges and build on the opportunities.

Dr Bin Salih thanked the Deputy Minister for the visit, adding that indeed his visit to the region was an indication of government's Commitment to the twin disease challenge in the region.

He said with the support of government, Ghana Health Service (GHS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other philanthropists, the region had enough drugs for the CSM threat. With CSM, Dr Bin Salih said the region had so far recorded 273 confirmed cases with 43 deaths.

He said most of the deaths were as a result of late reporting, noting that they hade intensified public education on the need for early reporting to health facilities in case of any suspected symptoms.

Briefing the Deputy Minister shortly after the courtesy call, Dr Osei Kuffuor Afreh, outgoing Upper West Regional Director of Health Services said the CSM cases started declining significantly as a result of some interventions put in place.

He disclosed that no district was currently in an outbreak mode even though they continued to record minimal cases.
He said only two hospitals including; Jirapa and the Regional Hospitals in the region could react on CSM, which was challenging to the region.

On COVID-19, Dr Afreh noted that some 2,700 people entered the region during the lockdown in Accra and Kumasi, adding that it therefore moved the region from low risk to medium risk.