One of the leading contenders for New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate slot, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, has criticized government over “the lack of public education” on the deadly Ebola disease.
Over 900 people have, so far, died from the disease in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and most recently Nigeria.
Ghana has yet to officially record a case of the disease, but fears have grown in recent times, with sporadic reports of patients hospitalized with symptoms similar to those of Ebola.
Nana Akufo Addo, in a statement released on Monday, criticized what he believes to be the lack of a “comprehensive nationwide programme to give the people of Ghana proper information on Ebola.”
According to him, the government should do more to increase public education about the disease, stating that the “lack of public education fuels panic and the consequences of public ignorance could be disastrous.”
Find the full statement from the office of Nana Akufo Addo below:
AKUFO-ADDO LAMENTS LACK OF PUBLIC EDUCATION ON EBOLA
In the last few weeks, in my travels across the country, I’ve used the opportunity to have conversations with ordinary people on issues of public concern, including the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in some neighbouring countries. I have been disturbed by the lack of public education out there. There appears to be no comprehensive nationwide programme to give the people of Ghana proper information on Ebola. It is as if the work of public education has been left entirely to the mass media with no policy direction or deliberate support from Government.
Key to preventing and controlling this outbreak lies in the hands of public officials in the form of public education programmes. We need to see and hear more about how to prevent, detect or deal with the disease in our efforts to stop it from spreading to Ghana and beyond.
Lack of public education fuels panic and the consequences of public ignorance could be disastrous.
It is better to spend wisely now to educate the public than to spend more later to deal with the predictable, potential consequences of being hit by the pandemic because we did not prepare well enough against it.
Join me in urging Government to do a lot more to increase public education about Ebola. It is imperative in preventing and containing this unprecedented outbreak. Prevention awareness education is the best cure.
God bless you.
……signed……
Nana Akufo-Addo
–
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana