The Institute of Social Research and Development (ISRAD), a nongovernmental organisation working in the three Regions of the north has trained 115 volunteers from endemic cholera border communities of the Upper East Region on Cholera and Ebola preparedness and prevention.

The volunteers were drawn from selected communities in the Bolga Municipality, Bongo district, Builsa North and South districts, Talensi and Nabdam districts as well as Kassena Nankana Municipal and West districts respectively in the Upper East Region.

Upper East Regional Coordinator of ISRAD, Mr. Abdul-Razak Issah, said his outfit was “building the capacities of the community health volunteers on the use of evidence-based behaviour change communication strategies through the use of house to house sensitization, community durbars and group sensitization including food vendors and in-school sensitization programmes to create awareness to effect behavioural change at the community level on cholera and Ebola”.

He also said the training programme is to complement government efforts in the fight against cholera and Ebola which is in line with the Social Mobilization and Risk Communication Component of Ghana’s National Preparedness and Response Plan for the prevention and control of the Ebola viral disease. 

Mr. Issah unveiled ISRAD’s  intention to use traditional and mass media channels including the use of radio discussion and airing of jingles in selected local languages in the catchment areas to create the awareness at the community level.

Mr. Issah added that the project was also going to target the hunters, bushmeat consumers, those consuming fruit-eating bats, port health workers, travellers across neighbouring borders, those handling the sick and undertakers (those burying the dead).

He commended UKaid, DFID and the Government of Ghana for funding Ghana's National Ebola and Cholera Sensitization Campaign project and appealed to the funding agency to extend the period of the project so that they can cover those burying the dead in the communities which when not seriously taken in the eventuality of an Ebola outbreak, would have its transmission escalating like wildfire.

The Upper East Regional Disease Control and Surveillance Officer, Mr. Baba Awuni, taking the volunteers through the cholera and Ebola training, cautioned volunteers to take the training seriously and use the knowledge acquired to create awareness so as to enable people within the communities know the signs and symptoms, modes of transmission and prevention of cholera and Ebola.

He however impressed upon volunteers to report any suspected cholera and Ebola case or any peculiar deaths to the nearest health facility.

Mr. Baba Awuni said his outfit is ready to partner with ISRAD in the Behaviour Change Communication for Promoting the use of microscopes and/or RDTs for malaria diagnosis before treatment and thanked the organization for complementing the work of Ghana Health Service (GHS).

ISRAD will continue its training on cholera and Ebola prevention with the remaining 85 community health volunteers from selected communities in Bawku Municipal, Bawku West, Binduri, Garu, Temaone and Pusiga districts in the coming week.