The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Elias Sory, says schools are a vulnerable population and could spread the pandemic Influenza H1N1 within the wider community. He said the disease affected most healthy children and adults between five and 45 years while 85 per cent of all cases involved those below 30 years. He said this in a speech read on his behalf at a seminar to educate teachers on how to prevent and control the disease in schools. The programme was on the theme, "Institutional preparedness to mitigate the impact of the pandemic influenza (HINI) outbreaks in schools." It was organised by the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) with support from the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the Ghana Health Service and was attended by teachers from public and private schools in the Greater Accra Region. Dr. Sory said since the emergence of the disease, 13 cases have so far been confirmed in the country. For his part, Dr. Joseph Amankwa, Director of Public Health, said the tendency for Africans to sweep this threat under the carpet might seem rational because of rampant conflicts on the conti-nent. He said endemic diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, meningitis, cholera, hemorrhagic fevers, food security, volcanic eruptions and floods could also lead to chronic emergencies that would require international assistance. Mr. Alex Tettey-Enyo; Minister of Education, in an address read on his behalf by Mr. Victor Kofi Mante, Director of the Teacher Education Division of Ghana Education Service, said since the disease could affect many people within the shortest possible time; it was a potential threat to schools where many children and teachers congregate. "An outbreak in any of our educational institutions could result in devastating consequences, ultimately resulting in closure of schools and suspension of the academic calendar," he said. Mr Tettey-Enyo said though deadly, prevention of the disease was very simple and called on teachers to disseminate accurate information and knowledge on the disease, its mode of transmission, control, management and observance of simple basic personal hygiene. Mr. Kofi Portuphy, NADMO National Coordinator, stressed the need for schools to have an emergency health management programme and simple precautionary measures to control any emergency health situation that might arise. Source: Ghanaian Times