0I mil of p* l, WORLD

WORLD

HEALTH

ORGANIZATION

ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE

ONCiIOCIrIiCLAS]S CONTIiOL PnOGMjI.,lE

Ilil _'IHII VOlTh RI\r,{1 BIiSI}i AXL\

Ii/iTI ONl, l, ^Ot'lCiIC Cli ? C !.S I S ^{C Oi} I{ITTLIES

Sixth meeting

!r-c*cy p* 2.-{ _{-J-r!lS- -Lgg ?.}

Item 5 of the agencla NOc5/5" 1

AcTrvrrrtrs 0I mil MT:Lvl$Ar oNCBocERCrASrs sECrtETARriT G}iA][A

STATEP;EI'JT BV THE GHAI\ii DELEffiTIBN TO IHE 6IH ^AIINUAL

Ministers,

^Hc::Co

nf DeIe;rti-:ns,

Director

of

the ^gCP, Distinguished Delegates, Lad1es and _Eentlemen.

It is

^very cCInsoling and

gratifying that at

such a crucial period

in the history of the

Republic

cf

6hana, our

felloul sister

countries should respond so massively

to

our

lnvitation to

host the

6th

Annual Meeting

of the

National Enchocerciasis Eommittees ln

Accra.

^{bJe uJeltrome} you

all

and trre Lrish ^yBU a happy i:nd urondrous

stay

ln

^Ghana,

15s sshievement

of the

Bnchocerciasis Eentrol ^Programme since

its

inception has been tremendous and ue

in

Ghana are vexy pleased

uith the

r.rondcrful performance

of

the ProgrammE Director

and

his

creu, as

uell

as the contributlons

of all

^agencies

connected

uith the

Progremme.

In the efforts

toulards

the

eradication

nf

0nchocerciasis and

the

Socio-economic development

of the

areas

freed from

the

dlsease,

the

National Bnchocerciasis Committee of

Ehana has

not

been found

tranting"

Immediately

sfter ^{the last}

meeting

in

lJiamey, meetings became disrupted due

to the

^absence of

a

Substantlve Executive Director

of the

National Onchocerciasis

Secretcriat

^and

the

departure

ef the

Secretary

of

the Eommittee to

the

United States

of

ttmerica

to

^pursue

further training

on the

Programme rs

ticket"

Hor,rever, since October 1981,

the

Eomnittee has been meeting cnce every month and

its activities

have been remarkable"

ACTIVITIES:

1.

STREfiUMEliIl,iG THE NIiTIUI'IHL BIIJCH0CERUII|SIS SEERETARIAf:

The

fulfilment of

the objectives

set

^up

in

the Project

Document RAF/74/A63 and GHVB0/021 r,rhich includes among others the

corpletion uf thc

data bank, the preperation

of

a Ten-Year Development Plan,

lnstitution building,

^through:-

(1)

_the maximum

utilisation of

domestic ^persennel

institutions

^and

(fi)

improvement

of

^{planning processes,}

required

the

t\lational Onchocerciasls Secretariat

to

^have

full

complement

of stnff

and equipment.

.. o o/2

Just after

the ^previous meetlng

understaff and

ill-equlpped

to

in

Niamey,

the

Secretariat ^became

embark on any serisus

activity"

(a)

The ttational Onchocerciasis Eommittee since the previous _meetlnq

in

Niamey has uorked

relentlessly

^to appoint an Executive

Directsr

^and

to

equip

the

Secretariat ruith

tlre

required administrative

staff.

The IJBE

is

also

instituting

measures

to

employ the services

of

other

specialists

such as agronomists, project anerlysls, _farm managernent

specialists

and an engineer to speed up

the

drar,ling up

of the

develepment plan

for

^the freed zone"

(b)

The problem

uf

accommodation

fcr the

Secretariat ^has also been the Eoncern

uf the

Committee. The ttJ0E has

therefore rEquested

the Ministry of

trJorks and Housing to provide

the Secretrriat uith a

16-Unit

offlce

Epace.

(c)

_0n LrJednesday 10th ^March the IJOC, through the t4inistry

of

Finance and Economic Planning, manaqed

to

secure

for

the

Secretariat

a

^rr504rr Puugeot estate Car

for ^,lhich,

^among other vehicles

of ihe Secretariat,

has been under the custody

of

the

UNDP (Accra) since

the

departure

of the

Development ptanning Eo-ordinattrr"

(d)

_To increase the

efficiency of the

Secretariat

to

^embark

cn

the

Socio-economic development

of the

0ncho-freed Ereas,

the

NOC

is

^trorking

cut

r.,lith the tvlinistry

of

Flnance ^and Econlrmic PJ.rnning

to

mal<e

the

Secretariat autonomous. This

ui11 reduce

thu

admlnistra'bive and prncurement procedures that

the

Secretsrriat hes

to

gc through

in

acouiring

logistical

support

for its

projects"

2"

6TH nNlluiiL t1EETIt''li 0F THE ltiirTIBI.IAL EiiCHECEREIi SIS E0triMITTEES:

0ne

of tlrc

most important

activities of the

NUC has been

its

preparation touards Ghanars hosting

of

the

6th

Annual l.leetlng

of

^the

National Onchucerciasis Ecmmit'tees

in

Accra, Ghana. The task has

not

been easy especlally

at this

pericd uhen the ^economy

of

Ehana

has been so ueako Even though one cannot say

that results

have been

perfect,

_Vet

_the

trl0C

feels that

much has been achieved under the present eircumstances and pleads rrrith delegates

to

bear urlth

lt.

.. o/3

3.

At

a

tripartite

^{revier,r meeting held}

in

^{1981 on UNDP/FA0}

Project

RAF/74/A63, one

of the

recommendations uras

that

the

activities of ^the

lrJational Onchucerciasis Secretariat ^{should be} appropriately

decentri:Iised.

t'lodalities oi" these rEcommendations

are being uorked

out

by the committee so

that the

verrious ^bodies and agcncies

that

operate

in the

Oncho-freed areas urould undertake

certain

^aspects

af

the development

of

^these

areas,

The Secretariat

r,rill

^then

liaise

^ancl cu-ordinate

the activities ef

^these btrdies ^and embark on projects urhere

the efforts of the

regional ^{bodies do not}

cover. In this

trtrnnetrtion

the

N0E has

initiated

^moves

to invite

an FAQ

technical

^team

to

uiork

closely

^r.rith

the

Secretariat ln reappraising

the feasibility

studies

of

the inaccessible areas in

the

fincho-fre,d

zone

^and

to

map

out

^and

identify

^{bankable projects}

for international funding. It is ^the

^hope

of the

NQE

that

^the

FAQ and UlrlDP

r,lill

be very co-operctive ^and

assist In the efforts cf the

Eommittee by providinq the necessary funds,

logistical

support

and

ihe

required

skilled

personnel"

5"

HydroloroloBical l'lonitnring has been one

of the aetivities that the

^fil0E

of

Ehana has been very interested

in"

The monitoring programme

to find the effect of

the main

larvicides

used on ^rrnon- targetrr ^organisms

ln

the

rivers

under treatment

is

undertaken ^by

the Institute r:f

Aquatie Biology

(IAB). _Earefully

selected

stations

^{have been}

set

^up

for the

^purpose

in all

^{the maln}

rivers

belng treated

in

the Ghan.:

arEa" In

anticipatj.on

of the

Eontrol proqramme being extended

to

other

blackfly

infested area outside the

current prtrgrammE ErEF:,

the Institute of

^Aquatic

Biolnly

^has

initiated

pre-treatment monituring studies

in the

River Pru

in

^the

Brong-Ahafo and Asukoukou

ln

the Volta Reglon"

It

^{uould be noted}

that

the Volta Basin

is

the mein operational area

in

the Programme

and

that

^mos'b

of

the

trerted rivers ultimetely

^run

into the

Uolta Lake"

It is

^therefore absolutely essential

that for the

duration

of

the

control

^{proqramme the} monitoring

in the

^{Ghana area by}

the

IAB

is regularly

undcrtaken since bhis involves extensive

field

urork,

it is

^hoped

that the

^provision

of logisticel

support by

the

Eovernment and

the

^DEP

to the Institute uiII continue" It is

^also recommended

that

even thcuqh

the larvicide in

use has not produced adverse effect sn

the

ecosystem,

yet

the monitoring operations should be sustained

.."./4

4-

as long es the Frtrgramme runs bcaring

in

^mind the

possibility

that

the larvlcide

being applled may be varled

for

opcratlonal

or

^tech-

nical reesons, It i.: '- 5^ ^..:.-J that the Instiiute of

^Aquatic

Biolngy

ls

represented

in the

NOC and therefore ^advises to committee as

is

necessary.

6.

EHEMBTHERAPY:

In

chemnthe.rapeutic research, the Chemotherapeutie Researeh

Eentre

is

situated

at

Tamale 1n

the

Savanna area

of

lJorthern Ehana

and

is

rrrithin thu Encho-controlled

area.

The

I'iinistry of

Healtht

r,.rhich

is

rcpresanted

in the

l\08, has been monitorlng

actlvities

^of

the

Eentrsr

to

canduct drug

trials

^{on small grtrups}

of

^patients

(B

at

^a

time)

takcn from

the

Eut-partients department

of the

^Tamale HospitaI.

7

.

^TRAII{ING:

The NOC Lrishes

to

^thank

the

OEP

for its

urillingness

to traln

Ghanaians

to

undertake various tasks

in

^the

control of the

^disease

and

the

development

of the

areas freed ^from

the disease"

^{The tuo} Health Economists being

trained in the

United States are ^expected

to

be

in the

country very 6oon

to

contribute

to the efforts of

^the

IJEC. ^The other

speciallsts trained

^by the Prograr,rme are perfnrming remerkably ^and

it is

^hoped

that

^more

of

such fellorrrships

uill

be ^given

in the

future.

The NQE believes

that thc training of

^more cadres

of

^Ehanaians

rrlllI

ensure

ihat the results

achieved

at the

^end

of

the Programme

trill

^be

maintained"

8.

LAREE-SEALE PUiLIC fi'.,trii1ENE55 CAFITAIGIIJ:

The IJCE

in

^{Ghana on the} Fast ^{treek organised} press conference

to

^educ:'rte

the

^press about

the i'ctivities

and achievements

of

^the

OCP as a uhole and

the effcrts to

^{aohieve a} socio-economi.c develop- ment

of

oncho-freed

areEs,

More

of

such campalgns are being embarked upon and

this urill

continue so

that the

general population

of

^Ehana

r.'1111 be informed about the hazards

of the

dlsease ^and

the

^attempts being made

to control it"

Series

of radio

^and

television

^progrrmmes

are being undertaken by the NEC

to

spread the mass-education aspect .. o./5

b-

to the rural areas"

0ther aspects

of this

^{campciEn are} being undertaken by

the

Department

of

SociaI tdelfare and Eommunity Developmcnt rrrhich

is

also a member

of

the N0C.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 'uhe task ahead

is

^{enormous and the}

l'Jationnl 0nchoci:rciasis Eornmittee

of

Ehana

is

determined to pursue

all

available methods

to the

Proqramme

to

achieve the

maximum

result.

THfft,rH YoU.