Persistent “cholerization” of metropolitan Accra, Ghana: digging into the facts

Type Journal Article - American Journal of Epidemiology and Infectious Disease
Title Persistent “cholerization” of metropolitan Accra, Ghana: digging into the facts
Author(s)
Volume 3
Issue 3
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2015
Page numbers 61-69
URL http://41.66.244.102/bitstream/123456789/440/1/PERSISTENT “CHOLERIZATION” OF METROPOLITAN ACCRA,​GHANA _ DIGGING INTO THE FACTS.pdf
Abstract
This paper examines the risk factors responsible for the 2014 cholera epidemic in Accra, Ghana’s
primate city which affected 30,000 people and claimed over 200 lives in five months (May to September). Drawing
on insights from a wide range of sources, we observed that laxity in potable water provision and sanitation services,
coupled with erroneous socio-cultural beliefs were at the heights among the risk factors but have tended to be
viewed within a narrow analytical frame. The most deprived and inadequately housed, and the indigenous
communities disproportionately exemplified these challenges. In our view, this situation demonstrates how
ineffective and insufficiently attentive environmental governance has perpetuated the inequality in spatial patterns of
vulnerability and health risks facing humanity. We advocate the need for a broad-spectrum environmental policy that
in cooperates intensive public health education that can addresses the erroneous beliefs in the disease epidemiology

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