Ghana on the way to eradicate polio

GHANA is recording successes in its efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis.
The last polio outbreak in the country, which were all imported cases, was recorded in 2008.
The last indigenous case was recorded in 2003.
The Programme Manager of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Kwadwo Odei Antwi, said this during a monitoring exercise of the June 2013 Polio Vaccination Campaign by the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region.
“Globally polio cases have reduced by 99 per cent since 1988 from an estimated 350,000 cases to 223 cases in 2012” he said.
As of  2013, he said, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan were the countries that remained polio endemic.
Dr Antwi said 45,000 volunteers and 4,500 supervisors were trained for this month’s three-day exercise to vaccinate children under five years. 
For her part, Ms Ayittey said the government was in the process of establishing district hospitals with ultra modern facilities that would give quality health care to Ghanaians.
She promised to provide motorbikes for the 83 community health nurses in the district to help them travel the bad roads in  rural communities.