The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has issued a warning about an impending cholera outbreak in the Northern Region, particularly with the onset of the rainy season.
The report emphasizes the importance of good hygiene practices in preventing cholera outbreaks, particularly given the region’s poor sanitation and the increased risk associated with the rainy season.
The GHS reports that although there are currently no recorded cases of cholera in the region, poor sanitation practices such as open defecation, especially in the rainy season, expose the region to the disease.
It said that it is therefore important to take early actions to prevent the spread of the disease that claimed more than 40 lives across the country in 2024.
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Northern Regional Director of Health Services Dr. Chrisantus Kubio, who disclosed on Friday, May 16, during a stakeholder meeting in Tamale, said it is important to sensitize communities to ensure an outbreak is prevented.
“To start with, we don’t have cholera; there is no cholera in the northern region, but we know that the rains are setting in, and looking at our environment and previous outbreaks that have happened in other parts of the country, the risk is high. So it’s important for us to be able to sensitize community members and ensure that we’re able to prevent it,” he said.
He added that even though prevention was key, “in the event that people have the disease, how do they get to know that they’re dealing with cholera? How do they report? How do we pick up the cases early so that we’re able to prevent other people from getting the disease because early detection is important for us to be able to break the transmission to ensure that it doesn’t spread?”
Dr. Kubio appealed to the public to stop open defecation, as the ingestion of human excreta is the primary cause of cholera.
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As of February 2025, Ghana had recorded 6,145 cases, including 719 confirmed cases, and 49 deaths as a result of last year’s cholera outbreak in the Greater Accra, Central, Western, and Eastern regions in 2024.
