3 out of 4 Ghanaian children who missed vaccinations did so due to covid-related reasons

During World Immunization Week 2020, the WHO called for actions to minimize disruptions to immunization programmes due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The Households and Jobs Tracker survey has confirmed that the pandemic has increased the risk of children who are due for vaccinations not getting the needed vaccine. The report indicated that 76.8% of children did not get vaccinated when they had to because of covid-19 related reasons.

Greater Accra and Ashanti covid-19 case counts greater than most African countries

Greater Accra has more confirmed covid-19 cases  (18,882) than the other 15 regions combined (18,132).

If Greater Accra region were a country on its own in the WHO African region*, it would rank 6th out of 47 in case counts** after only South Africa (503,290), Nigeria (43,537), Ghana (35,501), Algeria (30,950) and Kenya (21,363).

Ashanti region (9,328), which has more cases than the other regions excluding Greater Accra combined (8,804), would rank 11th out of 47.

Global covid-19 death toll still climbing

644,832 deaths have been recorded with the trend indicating that number of deaths is still rising 7 months after the disease was declared a pandemic.

The world continues to grapple with covid-19 as global case count passes 16 million

United States (4.18 million), Brazil (2.39 million) and India (1.39 million) are leading the number of cases as of 26th July.

Ghana on the verge of passing 30,000 recorded covid-19 cases

4,442 new covid-19 cases were reported since our last update.  The national case count now stands at 29,672.

The cases recorded on the 19th includes samples taken as far back as 16th June. Daily testing numbers picked up from the previous week; 25,449 tests were carried out compared to 19,207 in the previous week. 

Greater Accra (1,837) and Ashanti (1,360) region combined to contribute 70% of new cases.

Number of new covid-19 increasing in Africa

South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria lead with the highest case counts.

According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control new cases reported this week increased by 21% compared to the previous week. In all, 736,288 cases have been reported in 54 African countries representing 5% of the global case count. Africa's share of global cases has increased from 2% since we last posted a global update in May.

15,418 deaths have been reported representing a case fatality rate of 2.1%.

Testing numbers decline as case count climbs past 25,000

3,284 new cases recorded since our update last week leading to a total count of 25,252. This represents a decline from the 4,227 cases recorded in the previous week. However, we have to note that the number of test conducted in this 7 day period also declined from the number in the week prior to this one.

19,207 tests were conducted in the period 27th June to 4th July compared to 14,030 tests conducted in the period 5th July to 11th July; representing a 27% decline in cases tested.

Today is World Population Day

July 11th is World Population Day, a day to highlight important population issues. The first World Population Day was commemorated 31 years ago in 1989.

The theme for this year is "Putting the brakes on COVID-19: how to safeguard the health and rights of women and girls now"

Research from UNFPA projects that the pandemic will have devastating effects on the well-being of females from increased risk of domestic violence and maternal death, reduced access to family planning and greater likelihood of child marriages.

Read more on the harmful practices for girls here and in the State of the World Population 2020 report.

Ghana approaching 22,000 cases as daily infections continue to rise

Ghana's case count continues to rise amidst the easing of restrictions. 4,227 new cases were recorded in the past week since our last update which is about one and a half times the new cases reported in the previous week. The current count stands at 21,968 confirmed cases.

All regions reported new cases. Greater Accra (2,229) and Ashanti (1,012) contributed three-quarter of the new cases.

Almost 10,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Ghana

1,840 new cases were reported in the past week since our last update to bring the confirmed case count to 9,910. This is a significant increase from the previous week's increase  of 1,106 (+734) and the increase of 896 (+944) in the week before that.

95% of new cases came from the Greater Accra (65%), Ashanti (17%), Western (8%) and Central (5%) regions.

No tobacco day

Today is World No Tobacco Day which is meant to draw attention to the negative effects of tobacco use on health and mortality risk. Tobacco use significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory diseases and certain types of cancer. WHO has also stated that smoking is linked to increased severity of covid-19 symptoms.

More than 5 million covid-19 cases confirmed worldwide

Our covid-19 coverage so far has focused on Ghana so today we look at that is happening around the world.

5,819,962 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed worldwide. 

The United States has the largest outbreak with 1,716,078 confirmed cases, followed by Brazil with 438,238 and Russia with 387,623 cases. United Kingdom and Spain round out the top 5 with 269,131 and 238,278 cases respectively.

The global death toll is devastating with 362,786 deaths reported (a case fatality rate of 6.23%). The U.S. leads by a wide margin with 101,567 deaths followed by the U.K. with 37,837 deaths then Italy with 33,142. Spain  and France round out the top 5 with 29,037 and 28,608 reported deaths respectively. 

Covid-19 and mental health

In addition to the impact on physical, research from the U.S is showing that the pandemic is taking a toll on mental health as well. One-third of Americans showed clinically significant signs of clinical anxiety or depression. with poorer adults, younger people and females more likely to exhibit those signs. 

The mental health impact of the virus is clearly felt even by those who have not contracted the virus. Myriad factors as social isolation caused lockdowns, worry about finances due to job insecurity or loss, fear of falling sick, concern about the health of loved ones with the virus, grief from loss of loved ones, the stress of working from home and providing childcare simultaneously are causes. Most individuals are dealing with multiple issues at once. 

Unfortunately, social support which can be a coping mechanism has been affected by social distancing and lockdowns restricting movement. 

The mental impact of the health will be much larger than the impact of physical health and policies to address mental health should be developed implemented alongside the policies to prevent and treat covid-19. 

Confirmed covid-19 cases in Ghana rise to 6,096

969 new cases have been confirmed in the week since our last update. Greater Accra contributed more than half of those cases (555), Ashanti Region contributed almost a quarter (226) and Central Region about a tenth (102). 

Today is World Hypertension Day

World Hypertension Day is commemorated to raise awareness of hypertension (high blood).

Hypertension which is caused by unhealthy diets and physical inactivity is linked to increased risk of stroke, heart attacks and kidney disease. Emerging research also links hypertension to increased risk of Covid-19 severity and mortality.

Ghana Health Service yesterday released some information on the Covid-19 fatalities revealing that for 20 out of the 28 deaths recorded, hypertension was listed as an underlying condition.

More on malaria in Ghana

We continue to shine a spotlight on malaria. It is the leading cause of morbidity in Ghana and  malaria prevention efforts must continue despite the current global crises. On World Malaria Day, the WHO urged sub-Saharan African countries to minimize disruptions to malaria prevention and treatment programmes. 

Today we look at some additional statistics on malaria from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Facts and Figures 2018 report.

First quarter malaria statistics

The Ghana Health Service provided some sobering 2020 first quarter numbers on malaria morbidity and mortality in Ghana highlighting again the importance of malaria prevention and treatment efforts.

According to the statistics: 1,000,000 people tested positive for malaria in the first quarter out of which 21,201 were children under five years and 28,764 were pregnant women. At least 54 deaths from malaria have been recorded with 16 of the deaths among children under five years.

World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Today, as we commemorate World Day for Safety and Health at Work we applaud frontline health staff all over the globe and others contributing to the fight against covid-19 such as scientists, contact tracers, inventors, policy-makers etc. We also commend other essential staff in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, finance, security, media and food supply who continue to deliver services despite the risks.

World Immunization Week

We are in the middle of World Immunization Week which is from 24th to 30th April this year.

As the world waits for a vaccine to the Covid-19, it is important to remember the many infectious diseases for which we have vaccines that save millions of lives every year.

World Malaria Day

As the world commemorates World Malaria Day in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, malaria which continues to be a leading cause of morbidity in the region. Malaria is included as one of the sub-targets under SDG 3: 3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.

CeDHA fellow Dr. Ayaga Bawah co-authored an important paper looking at the impact of malaria on life expectancy: How many years of life could be saved if malaria were eliminated from a hyperendemic area of northern Ghana? Today he shares some thoughts on the implications of that research here.