Remain vigilant Acting Director-General of the Ghana Health Service

Currently, the Northern Region only has one patient with meningitis at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. This is a notable improvement from previous years. The hot season typically sees a spike in cases.

During the five months from November 2024 to March 2025, the Northern Region documented eight incidences of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM). Fortunately, there were no reported deaths.

Of the eight cases, one patient—a nine-month-old child—is still hospitalized at TTH. The other seven have already been treated and discharged.

The Acting Director-General of the Ghana Health Service visited on April 9. It was reported that only seven out of 16 districts in the region had reported cases of meningitis. This is a notable improvement from previous years.

During the presentation, Dr Hilarious Abiwu, Deputy Director of Public Health at the Regional Health Directorate, reassured everyone. He said there is no need to worry about the current situation.

“As far as meningitis is concerned for the northern region, the picture we are seeing for the three or four years now doesn’t give us any cause for concern, but it doesn’t mean we should be complacent. We are increasingly seeing declining numbers of even suspected cases of meningitis in the region. If you look at 2024, for instance, we recorded about 12 cases the whole year. So, technically, on the average, every month, we had one person developing meningitis, and even with these people, we haven’t lost any life, they were all treated and discharged.”

According to him, one significant gap that requires urgent attention is the withdrawal of support from USAID.

“We’re not working in a vacuum, and we need to work with other agencies to achieve results, and all this requires financial resources. But we don’t have a dedicated funding source. Some of this funding was coming from USAID, and this has gone off the radar for now, and so we have to figure out how to fill that gap.”

Prof Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, spoke during an interview with Channel One TV. He emphasized the need to remain vigilant towards meningitis. This was urged despite a decrease in reported cases. He urged Ghanaians to remain aware and cautious as the illness remains a potential threat in certain regions.

“We’ve been following the incidence of meningitis in the country and visited all the regions within the meningitis belt, and we believe that it is not over, and we don’t want people to start thinking it is over. We need to create more awareness so people don’t lose sight of taking precautions.”

According to Dr Abiwu, prompt medical intervention upon the onset of meningitis symptoms dramatically increases the likelihood of successful recovery.

The Director-General met with District Directors of Health Services and Medical Superintendents during his visit. He also stopped at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH). His aim was to develop stronger partnerships with healthcare professionals. This would improve healthcare delivery in the Northern Region.