In order to prevent illnesses from monkey pox, Mr. Daniel Kwame Owusu Amponsah, the Dormaa Central Municipal Disease Control Officer, has recommended Ghanaians to minimise their consumption of bush meat.
Before consuming bush meat, he advised and mandated that customers do crucial procedures to track and identify the source of the meat.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Amponsah was visiting Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.
According to him, "the illness is zoonotic and extremely transmissible following transmission from animals such as monkeys and others," and it can mutate from person to person.
Mr. Amponsah urged hunters who came across the corpses of such animals to contact the Veterinary Services Department or the Health Directorate for an inquiry should be carried out on them for the sake of their own health and the public's safety.
He said that radio conversations and visits to churches and mosques have increased public education efforts to raise awareness and prevent a disease breakout in the Municipality.
In order to prepare health workers, including as physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and laboratory staff, Mr. Amponsah stated, "We have arranged seminars and training for them across the Municipality to enable them to detect, respond, and effectively manage the disease in case there is an epidemic.
In order to spread knowledge of the illness, he stated outreach programmes will be organised for residents of areas along the roads to border cities and in border towns like Gonokrom and Kofibadukrom.
In order to educate locals about the disease, Mr. Amponsah made a suggestion that the Directorate may arrange a meeting with traditional leaders, public figures, and assembly members in the village of Duasidan, which has a monkey sanctuary.
He recommended the general public to follow COVID-19 standards and good hygiene practises, such as maintaining a safe distance, avoiding handshakes, washing their hands with soap and water while they do so, and donning a nasal mask because the virus can spread through sweating and vomiting.