by GTV

The news article focused on an outreach visit to Tapa Alavanyo, the biggest of 45 island communities in the Jasikan District of the Volta Lake.

The quarterly outreach programs are the initiative of the Jasikan District Health Directorate, and were started in 2001. Until 2003, the outreach was done by chartering canoes, which were unsafe, and had no life jackets. In June 2003, the Vice President of Ghana, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, inaugurated a fiberglass boat purchased by the Ghana Health Service and manufactured by TeamWork Consult.

The health needs of the island communities on the Volta Lake are immense. According to a disease surveillance program conducted, 96% of the people along the lake suffer from bilharzia. Due to the poverty and poor sanitation, other health problems include malaria, guinea worm infestation, and anemia.

This particular 1-week outreach was being conducted at Tapa Alavanyo by the 12-member outreach team, which included the only doctor in the Jasikan District Hospital, Dr. Winfred Owusu, who is the District Director of Health Services. In the interview broadcast, he indicated that the team has been providing free treatment of bilharzia among those in the island communities and along the lake, courtesy of the funding from the Jasikan District Health Assembly. According to the District Disease Control Officer, Mr. Joe Degle, the team was expected to treat over 10,000 bilharzia cases during the week. As there was no clinic at Tapa Alavanyo, the team used a local primary school as their clinic to provide clinical treatment, ante and postnatal services, child welfare services, immunizations, and bilharzia treatment. The chief of the town, Togbui Goza Apaletey appealed for a clinic to be built to address their health needs.