The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern Ghana has partnered with local and international organizations in an initiative to combat unsanitary conditions, which have led to a cholera outbreak in the West African nation.
The project, launched at the denomination’s Valley View University in Accra earlier this month, also aims to implement public health initiatives to prevent the potential spread of the Ebola virus, which is still prevalent in nearby countries.
An outbreak of cholera, a disease spread by human waste that causes dehydration, has killed more than 200 people in Ghana this year.
Ebola, which is commonly transmitted via contact with bodily fluids, has reached a peak this year in West Africa since it was first detected in 1976. No reported cases of Ebola in Ghana have been confirmed upon testing.
Nearly 18,000 cases of Ebola in West Africa were reported this year along with nearly 6,400 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The most affected countries include Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Introduced cases with limited local transmissions have been reported in Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, several countries in Europe and in the United States.
At the project launch ceremony on December 2, officials from the Church, United Nations and World Health Organization announced the campaign, which calls for educating Church members and the public on Ebola and sanitation-related diseases, a change of attitude toward the virus and those affected, and best practices of hygienic and sanitary behaviors. Officials said of prevention of diseases is more effective and cheaper than curative measures.
Samuel Adama Larmie, president of the Adventist Church’s Southern Ghana Union Conference, said the campaign was a “wake-up” call for citizens to be aware of Ebola and the need for sanitary practices.
“Today we show solidarity with victims of Ebola and cholera and hope that we shall overcome this challenge,” Larmie said. “We strongly advocate that there should be no stigma and or discrimination. No one is free or safe, but we can all do something about the situation.”
Church officials said the initiative’s message of sanitary practices and other preventative measures will be delivered to Adventists throughout the country. There are more than 400,000 Adventists in Ghana.
Larmie said Adventists would join the National Sanitation Day, which will be held the last Saturday of the month. Adventists, who observe Saturday as the biblical Sabbath and day of rest, will join the initiative on the last Sunday of the month.
William Kpakpo Brown, director for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Ghana, said nearly 20 percent of Ghanians lack latrines, which has led to unsanitary conditions in certain regions. The agency, he said, had recently completed a three-year project that constructed more than 5,500 household latrines and more than 140 latrines in hospitals.
Margaret Lamunu, a medical epidemiologist of the United Nation’s Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, said her organization had been working with local health partners and agencies to strengthen national Ebola prevention. She said measures had been established in several nearby countries to identify and designate Ebola isolation facilities, train health workers in treating Ebola, and to screen travellers for Ebola at entry points along national boarders.
Lamunu also thanked the Adventist Church for its contribution in addressing the regional epidemic.
“I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in providing this forum through which the general public can be sensitized and informed about what is happening to stop the Ebola outbreak, and how each of us can individually contribute to these efforts,” Lamunu said.
The World Health Organization’s representative in Ghana, Dr. Magda Robalo, said the organization had contributed to operational planning and offered information on needs for contact tracing, case surveillance, case management, and safe, dignified burials. She called for continuing strong partnerships and a response plan that would lead affected countries to be declared Ebola-free.
“Indeed, the collective response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is beginning to have some impact with some signs of slowing in some areas,” Robalo said. “However international responders are still urgently required, not only to treat cases but also to find cases, … contacts, and improve our ability to break the chains of transmission which continue to drive this outbreak.”
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Dr. Julius Debrah, commended the Adventist Church for being the first church in Ghana to launch an Ebola campaign. Debrah called on other religious organizations to follow the Adventist Church’s lead in educating the public to fight Ebola and cholera and to promote sanitary practices.