Thursday, 6th February, 2025
Hon Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare
Daffiama/Bussie/Issa
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity.
Mr Speaker, Meningitis remains a significant public health concern in Ghana, particularly in the northern regions where periodic outbreaks occur. The disease, caused by the inflammation of the meninges due to bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic infections, often leads to severe complications, including neurological damage and death if not promptly treated.
The northern part of Ghana is located within the African meningitis belt, which stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia, making it highly susceptible to recurrent epidemics.
The disease is characterised by sudden onset of fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases, seizures and coma. Despite efforts to control and prevent outbreaks, meningitis continues to pose a major health threat, especially in rural communities where healthcare access is limited
Mr Speaker, several factors contribute to the spread of meningitis in Ghana, making the disease difficult to control in certain regions. Some of these factors include:
Climatic Conditions — Meningitis outbreaks are more frequent during the dry Harmattan season that is, November to April, when dust, low humidity, and strong winds irritate the respiratory tract, making it easier for bacteria to invade the bloodstream and reach the meninges.
Overcrowding — High population density in schools, prisons, refugee camps, and poorly ventilated homes facilitates the transmission of meningitis, as the disease is spread through respiratory tract.
Poor Healthcare Access — Many rural communities lack adequate healthcare infrastructure, making early detection and treatment of meningitis cases difficult. Delayed medical intervention increases mortality rates.
Socioeconomic Conditions — Malnutrition, poverty, and inadequate sanitation weaken the individuals' immune system and increase susceptibility to infections. Poor hygiene and lack of clean water also contribute to the spread of meningitis.
Limited Vaccine Coverage — While vaccines such as MenAfriVac have reduced cases of serogroup A meningitis, other serogroups like W135 and X remain a concern.
The emergence of new strains poses challenges in achieving full protection against the disease.
Cross-Border Movement — Ghana shares borders with Burkina Faso, Togo, and Côte d'Ivoire, all of which experience periodic meningitis outbreaks. Movement of people across these borders increases the risk of transmission.
Mr Speaker, the Upper West Region is one of the most affected areas in Ghana, with meningitis outbreaks occurring frequently. The region's geographical location, climatic conditions, and limited healthcare infrastructure contribute to the high burden of the disease. The Upper West Region remains one of the most affected areas in Ghana, experiencing frequent meningitis outbreaks over the years.
The region's geographical location within the African Meningitis Belt, coupled with harsh climatic conditions and limited healthcare infrastructure, contributes significantly to the high disease burden.
Data from 2012 to 2025 highlights the fluctuating nature of meningitis outbreaks in the region. The number of suspected cases peaked in 2016, with 734 cases reported, followed by 425 cases in 2017, and 428 cases in 2018. In 2020, a severe outbreak recorded 421 suspected cases, with 50 deaths, resulting in a case fatality rate of 13.3 per cent. Although the number of suspected cases significantly declined in 2022, which was 131 cases, and 2023, with 97 cases, the case fatality rates remained concerning, with 10.3 per cent in 2023. The year 2025 has seen a significant rise in suspected cases.
Mr Speaker, we are in epidemiological week 6 and the region has recorded 60 suspected cases and 14 deaths, giving a very high case fatality rate of 23.33 per cent.
This calls for urgent enhanced disease control measures. I, therefore, appeal to the Government, Ministry of Health (MOH), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other stakeholders to mobilise technical, financial, and logistical support as a matter of urgency to enable the region to control and prevent the outbreak.
Mr Speaker, meningitis outbreaks in Ghana often results in high mortality rates due to several key factors including, delayed health-seeking behaviour, emergence of new stereotypes, shortage of essential medicines, limited laboratory capacity, and overburdened health staff due to inadequate distribution of health workers across the country, especially in the Upper West Region.
Mr Speaker, strengthening the overall health systems in epidemic-prone regions is urgently needed to address the negative impact of perennial meningitis outbreaks. In this regard, I make the following proposals: there should be meningitis outbreak preparedness; MOH should identify innovative ways of ensuring equitable distribution of health workers and other resources. Public health education should be implemented and enforced; and improved healthcare infrastructure to enhance case management, investments in healthcare facilities, laboratory diagnostics, and the training of healthcare workers should be prioritised.
Also, there should be crossborder collaboration with other countries; and the Government should establish a Public Health Emergency Fund, which would ensure sustained funding for current and future outbreaks.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, the meningitis situation in the Upper West Region has resulted in high mortalities, and needs urgent intervention by Government and other stakeholders.
I thank you for the opportunity.
Hon Mark Kurt Nawaane
Nabdam
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important Statement, and I thank Dr Sandaare for the Statement.
Mr Speaker, I am from the Upper East Region; the Upper East and Upper West Regions are neighbours. It is said that when one’s neighbour’s beard is burning, it is advisable to fetch water and put it by one’s own. So, what is happening in the Upper West Region, most often, would happen in the Upper East, North East, and Northern Regions. We are all together in this fight.
Mr Speaker, meningitis is a serious and potentially fatal disease, and worldwide, up to 500 million people are at risk of being infected, and we have about 1.2 million cases in a year. That is, 20 cases per 100,000 of the population and indeed, this sickness can cause severe brain damage. Mr Speaker, if we go to the first paragraph of the Statement, and with your permission, I quote: “The disease is characterised by sudden onset of fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases, seizures and coma.”
In other words, the disease starts like any other febrile illness and when one goes to the hospital, it could be mistaken for malaria or typhoid and usually, the patients do not even want to stay. When they are asked to stay at the hospital, they do not want to stay; they want to go home. Then they come with late presentation.
I would advise practitioners that whenever they meet such cases, they should, please, try to detain the patient because by evening, other symptoms like the neck-stiffness, seizures, and coma would join. They would show up later or in 24 hours. If the practitioners do not detain the patient, some of them would go home and would not come back to them.
The patients would say they went to the hospital and even with that, the situation is very bad.
Now in the management of these cases, the problem we have as a nation and the world is that we produce vaccines to treat or prevent the cases, but the bacteria continues to change its nature, and that is what we call the new stereotypes that come up.
Those stereotypes do not respond to the vaccines that were previously used. So, in one or two years, we would produce a vaccine which works for some time, then new stereotypes come, and it would no longer work. For so long, we have continued to talk about outbreaks and we continue to have outbreaks; so, we should take notice of it.
Now, the infectivity and severity depend on the social conditions.
In other words, malnutrition, poverty, poor hygiene, and even poor accommodation are factors that lead to an exacerbation of the cause. If one goes to our own settlements, “the Zongo”, where we build our houses to face different directions, the windows are very small, and there is no or poor ventilation; we would have this case spreading very fast. So, we should advise ourselves about how we build our houses and plan our settlements.
The other issue at hand is the late reporting at the hospitals by the patients. Just like I said earlier, most of the patients do not report early; they sit in the house and carry out self-medication. But even when they have reported at the hospital, let me confess that we sometimes spend so much time trying to diagnose the disease. We go to the lab and do other things, and before we know it, there are complications.
But from the clinical symptoms or signs of meningitis; neck stiffness, coma, especially neck stiffness, when it comes with vomiting and headache, then my good friend practitioner, should better start the treatment of meningitis; and the drugs are quite effective.
Another problem we face as a nation is that after one starts the treatment for most of the patients, they cannot afford the medication. So, I am calling on the Government of the day that whenever we suspect that there is an outbreak of meningitis, we should declare free treatment for such patients and treat them as such.
Mr Speaker, the last but not least is my advice to parents. This sickness affects many children and most of us have children or have heard neighbours who say that they have three children, two of them are very good in school, but one is very bad and sometimes, wants to beat them. That behaviour is not normal; please, check back and see whether in his childhood, he did not encounter meningitis. So, the complications are hearing loss, seizures and learning difficulties.
Thank you, Mr Speaker for the opportunity.
Hon Cletus Seidu Dapilah
Jirapa
Thank you, Mr Speaker for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement ably made by the venerable MP for Daffiama/Bussie/Issa, Dr Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare.
Mr Speaker, this well researched Statement is what we need to combat this menace as far as this issue is concerned. CSM as it is popularly called, or meningitis, mostly raises its ugly head in the Upper West Region every year, and I want to associate myself with the maker of the Statement.
I am particularly worried about the over-populated Senior High Schools (SHS), many of the classrooms, dormitories and dining halls are over-populated and I want to call or use this august House to call on the Government; particularly the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Finance to collaborate.
Mr Speaker, we are talking about inadequate logistics here. So I think these agencies should collaborate, so that we can get the necessary logistics to combat this menace, so that it does not raise its ugly head in the Upper West Region.
Mr Speaker, I was a District Chief Executive for the Jirapa constituency in the year 2015/2016, when there was a meningitis outbreak in the district. I was told then that the virus kept changing. You would hear of CSM today, then another year, it is a different CSM. So, the World Health Organisation (WHO) that is responsible for manufacturing the vaccines usually do not manufacture the vaccines beforehand.
I am sure there is no vaccine for the current one in the Upper West Region because they would have to know which type of CSM or meningitis it is before they start producing the vaccine, and airlift it to the region in order to give it out to the victims.
Mr Speaker, I want to also say that the security agencies need to be empowered or provided with the necessary logistics so that they can do surveillance within the border regions. This is because we share borders with Côte d'Ivoire and other countries. Mostly, those who are affected can bring it in.
So we need the security agencies and the Ghana Health Service to collaborate in order to deal with these issues too at the borders.
Mr Speaker, on this note, I thank you for the opportunity.
Hon Fred Kyei Asamoah
Offinso North
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thanks to the maker of the Statement regarding meningitis. Meningitis outbreak remains a public health challenge in Ghana, especially in the northern regions.
These regions lie in what we call the meningitis belt, and it covers almost 25 countries in Africa and it looks like almost 450 million people that can be affected. Meningitis outbreak is usually seen within the dry seasons; that is from November to May each year. That means we should be expecting that people would be affected with this outbreak; and we know that during the COVID-19 outbreak, what we call the Global Fund established some response for COVID-19.
As a country that knows we would experience meningitis outbreak, we can establish a response, so that we get ourselves ready; we do not get to wait till there is an outbreak. In the western world where they tend to have an annual infection with flu, they tend to vaccinate people two to three months before the flu outbreak each year.
So, we as a country can also establish a response, so we do not wait till the outbreak before we start talking about it. But a month or two before the expected outbreak, we can kick in our response system. We also ought to look at the treatment that has to be done immediately one identifies such an outbreak or is infected.
Mr Speaker, I think the other time I spoke about the fact that a declaration in Abuja requires us to allocate 15 per cent of our National Budget towards health. This is a serious issue, because every healthy nation is a developed nation, and if we are not healthy, we cannot do anything.
As such, we need to have some consequential orders to make sure that enough funds are allocated to this outbreak. Not only meningitis but also, all other health issues and epidemics that we expect to experience within the year.
Thank you, Mr Speaker
Hon Peter Lanchene Toobu
Wa West
Thank you, Mr Speaker for the opportunity to contribute to this Statement ably made by the Hon Member for Daffiama/Bussie/Issa, Dr Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare. A three term MP who is in the Chamber serving as a motivation for those of us who survived CSM.
It is this motivation that is giving me the energy to rise to speak.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member who presented the Statement survived CSM, and when he lived through it, he decided to become a medical doctor and today, I am excited that he is in the Chamber reading a Statement about CSM.
Mr Speaker, Meningitis is a 65-yearold disease that we discovered affected the northern Ghana. Mr Speaker, 65 years ago, we started to realise that CSM could kill and has been killing. Sixty-five years down the line, all we do is to make Statements year upon year and people would continue to die. I have survived it; many of the MPs in this Chamber from northern Ghana have survived it, and we thank God we have found ourselves in a law-making institution like Parliament, and are speaking to make sure that Ghanaians would listen.
Mr Speaker, there are many things involved in CSM; the prevalent rate is from November to April.
That is just about half of the year; six months, from November to April every year. What is surprising is that there is not a single year that you would not hear the story of CSM; but in 1960, the story was really a very horrific one and the next ones that followed was in 1997, 2010, 2016. We are in 2025, and the story is not different.
Mr Speaker, if you go up north, we talk about the fact that CSM is a climate change-related disease; and you would still find people living in house that are poorly ventilated. I think that we should be challenged as a people to begin to talk to our engineers to craft out better housing schemes, better architecture such that one can even sleep in his or her room at even a temperature of 40 degrees and above without being exposed to CSM.
Mr Speaker, poor health care is another challenge as rightly elucidated by the maker of the Statement, and I am so happy that the past Government under President John Dramani Mahama, introduced Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound concept. Primary health care is a challenge to many communities in Ghana, and I want to believe that now that he is back as the President, we would go back to that policy to ensure that every village in this country would have at least a CHPS compound to deal with primary health care issues.
Mr Speaker, research must be continuous; the disease is changing name and image day in and day out. Vaccines are developed and they become useless within a year. What it means is that we should continue to research and develop relevant vaccines to ensure that any time a new strain emerges, we would have the medical capacity to deal with it.
Mr Speaker, if I would want to conclude, I would talk about funding. Public health emergencies are serious issues facing all countries in Africa, particularly Ghana; but when it comes to funding, we seem not to be having the money enough to deal with funding issues.
COVID-19 came, and we had the COVID-19 Trust Fund. We are still paying for the levy when the emergency is far gone. What would be wrong, if we repurpose, as he stated, that fund into a public health fund? When issues like CSM emerge, people do not even have money to go to the hospital to receive primary care. Such people should be treated free and discharged without any cost; but where is the money? Can we continue to borrow to fund our expenses? How can we continue to borrow to consume as a country? Let us do the best that we can to repurpose this particular COVID-19 Trust Fund to serve a purpose that would save lives.
On this note, Mr Speaker, I am so grateful. Thank you.
Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Nsawam/Adoagyiri
Mr Speaker, I am grateful.
Mr Speaker, let me commend the maker of the Statement who, as I listened to Colleagues, is a proud survival of CSM, and I am very proud about that. We are grateful to the Hon Member, and we doff our hat to him.
Mr speaker, in this time and age, it is quite surprising that this is coming to us as nation. We are all aware about the pronouncements and resolutions taken by the World Health Organization (WHO) on such basic diseases that have been affecting the world.
The global public health template that Ghana has signed unto—I am saddened that we have lost 14 lives or so as the maker of the Statement intimated to, and it gets sadder when one comes face-to-face with the fact that it is a repeated cycle. It is something that we cannot pretend about. It has been happening; it happens in the particular month of the year, so it is known.
Ghana Health Service (GHS) cannot pretend about it, and it is worrying that this matter appears to be getting out of hand.
I do not wish to rehash what the maker of the Statement have said but just to solidarise with him and to particularly make a call that we have a Minister of Health who has been nominated, vetted and been sworn in by the President.
Mr Speaker, be it as it may, we still have the Ghana Health Service. President Barrack Obama came to these shores of this country and told us that we must make institutions work in this country, so we do not have the Ministerdesignate sworn in, but we have the Ghana Health Service. We cannot always be waiting on the politicians and, oftentimes, we lazily put the blame on the politicians. We have dedicated public health service, and people who are paid by the tax payers’ money, and it cannot be the case—I would have zeroed in on the Minister, but, to the extent that he has not be sworn in, I would want to be fair to him.
Mr Speaker, there must be a way— The Ghana Health Service should come and explain to us. Is it the case that we are lacking vaccines? Is it the case that they never knew about this? Are they sleeping on the job? What is happening? They must come and give us some reasons, and we can make the argument that, well, we should wait for the Minister to be sworn in, but I would differ. The leadership of the Ghana Health Service should come and tell us why this matter is at where it is.
Mr Speaker, in this time and age, we cannot be allowing such basic ailments to be taking lives. Interestingly, Upper East shares border with Upper West, and if we are not careful, it would result into a calamity, so I want to humbly suggest that—Earlier, I had prayed you—I do not know if this prayer would find favour with you, in the face of the fact that we do not have the Minister sworn in.
Can we invite the Ghana Health Service? If for nothing at all, they should—This is an ailment that is taking the lives of innocent Ghanaians, and, in part of the world, statistics have shown that poverty is so pronounced there, so they may not even have the wherewithal to procure the vaccines, so, necessarily, the Ghana Health Service must go to the aid of the poor people at the Upper West; otherwise, the matter would get out of hands.
Mr Speaker, to that end, I want to pray you that you allow or direct the Ghana Health Service to come and brief this House, that is Committee of the Whole. We do not have our Committees; I would have said that the Committee on Health should meet with them and, probably, present a small Report to us. They should come and tell Parliament or the Committee of the Whole what the case is. Are they on top of the situation? Why is it that even though they know this matter is seasonal, and it happens in a particular month of the year. Is it the case that we slept or we lack vaccines?
What are the issues, so that this House can exert our powers and ensure we bring some control to this? I am very saddened that lives have been lost as a result of this, and something has to be done. One can see sadness all over the Hon Member. Let us go to his aid. He is sad, and I can see it. This House must go to his aid, and we must invite the Ghana Health Service to do the needful.
Mr Speaker, I thank you.
Hon Titus Kofi Beyuo
Lambussie
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I would like to thank the Majority Chief Whip for yielding to me, and I want to commend the maker of the Statement and the earlier contributors.
Mr Speaker, my constituency, Lambussie, is also affected; we fall within the meningitis belt and, in Africa, it moves all the way from Senegal to Ethiopia, so several countries, as have been mentioned earlier, are affected.
Mr Speaker, I just want to draw the attention of my Colleague doctors to thefact that, the dominant causative organism for this current outbreak appears to be strep pneumonia, which is streptococcus pneumonia, and this organism is slightly different from the Neisseria meningitides that have always been the cause of this condition. The difference in this also affects the clinical spectrum; earlier speakers alluded to the presentation of neck stiffeners, hearing loss and fever, but this organism has an atypical presentation.
So, if clinicians are waiting to see these symptoms, unfortunately, they may pick it up very late. Unfortunately, this strain is also very virulent and quite fatal, unlike the common organism that we know which would present with the early symptoms and does not kill as much, strep pneumonia appears to be very fatal. But the good news is that it does not spread as rapidly as the earlier organism I mentioned.
Mr Speaker, it is therefore important that clinicians are aware of these differences and people in the affected areas must report early. There is an effective treatment for it, and when the appropriate antibiotic is given, people can be cured, but if not given early, then the long-term effect of cognitive problems, nerve problems, deformities and hearing loss would persist.
But I want to commend the Ghana Health Service and inform this House that I have become aware that the Acting DirectorGeneral of the Ghana Health Service has declared free treatment for the current outbreak in the affected districts where persons who do not have even the National Health Insurance—The treatment is covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme, but persons who do not have the Health Insurance would still get treated for free and I think that the Government needs to be commended for that action.
Mr Speaker, it is expected each year, and preparations have been far advanced; but this current strain, unfortunately, cannot be prevented by the existing vaccines. This would then call into focus the National Vaccine Institute that was established by the previous administration, which I think is a sensitive national institution that should come into action in situations like this and develop vaccines which are suitable to our local context.
Mr Speaker, before I wrap up, I want to plead with you and join the plea of the Minority Chief Whip but slightly in a different direction, that in the absence of a health committee, if it would please the Speaker, this House would constitute a committee to go to the site and see what is happening because we do not have a Minister for Health yet and the DirectorGeneral for the Ghana Health Service is in an acting capacity.
I know they have assembled a team of epidemiologists to handle this, but if it pleases the House, then a smaller committee can be constituted in the interim to visit the affected districts, see what is on the ground, and report back to the House so that we can still play some oversight role to ensure that we are a voice for the voiceless.
Thank you very much.
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