President John Dramani Mahama has indicated that Health Experts from the sub-region would hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday, August 27, to deliberate over the deadly Ebola disease.
After that, Ministers of Health would also hold a similar meeting before an emergency Heads of State meeting to strategize on the way forward.
The President said Ghana was preparing feverishly against the Ebola disease within the country and the sub-region as a whole.
He said government would also strengthen isolation and quarantine programmes to prevent the outbreak of the disease in Ghana.
President Mahama said this when Michel Sibide, United Nations Executive Director called on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.
The Executive Director and his delegation were at the Presidency to share ideas with President Mahama on the global fight against the disease and to commend Ghana for steps she had so far taken to stem the disease in the country and the continent as a whole.
Also at the programme were Mr Girmay Haile, Country Director of UNAIDS and Dr Kwaku Agyeman Mensah, Minister of Health among other dignitaries.
On HIV/AIDS, President Mahama was optimistic that Ghana has the potential to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS new infections to zero per cent if proper regulations are adhered to.
He said currently, government had managed to reduce the prevalence rate of new infections from 12,000 to 7,000 for the past few years, while the national prevalence rate had also reduced from four per cent to 1.3 per cent at the same period.
According to him, mother-to-child transmission had also reduced from 31 per cent to nine per cent over the years and gave the assurance that the figure could be reduced to five or zero per cent under the five-year health plan.
He said government under the Ghana AIDS Commission was working around the clock to increase the supply of Anti-Retroviral Drugs to patients to over 60 per cent to fight and reduce the spread of the disease.
He stated that government had also made available some funding under the Export Development and Agricultural funds to Pharmaceutical Companies, to produce drugs for both domestic use and to other neighbouring countries in the West African sub-region.
President Mahama added that government was working to generate more funding to become self-reliant in the fight against the disease and commended the UNAIDS for their continuous support in that direction over the years.
Mr Sidibe commended Ghana for her strides in the fight against HIV and AIDs over the years, indicating that, Ghana could become the model in the fight against the disease in the continent and globally.
He said the core measure to stem the disease was to increase the production of medication for patients and also intensify educational programmes against it, and lauded Ghana’s efforts at supporting the pharmaceutical companies to step up production of anti-Retroviral drugs.
Mr Sidibe also used the occasion to express his condolence to Ghanaians on the death of Sir Paul Victor Obeng, Senior Advisor to the President.
Source: GNA