An Assessment and Treatment of the Guinea Worm Disease in the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
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Date
2008-07-12
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Abstract
Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease) is a parasitic disease that is limited to remote, rural villages in thirteen (13) Sub-Saharan African countries that do not have access to safe drinking water. It is one of the diseases targeted for eradication by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Carter Center for Disease Control (2007) has it that the greatest burden of guinea worm disease today occur in Sudan, Ghana, and Nigeria. These three countries account for 93% of all cases worldwide with Sudan reporting 73% of the cases.
The general objective of the study was to identify the factors associated with guinea worm disease in the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
The specific objectives were among other things: to find out the number of people affected by the guinea worm disease, to identify the full range of social, economic and demographic factors which predispose the people to guinea worm disease, to identify the various treatment regimes used by the affected and to use the findings to recommend to the stakeholders on the improvement of water systems of the people in the district and thus eradication of the guinea worm disease.
The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional household survey. Three towns were selected out of which fifty (50) households were chosen from each town. In each of the fifty households, twenty (20) were picked and entered based on every third count.
Detailed questionnaire and observation were used to collect data to assess the impact of the disease and the treatment regimes in operation.
Data analysis was done using SPSS Version 14 and Microsoft Excel 2007.
Most of the respondents (73%) had knowledge about the guinea worm disease. Many respondents were also seen to have been affected with guinea worm disease (33%) but treated, 33.30% said they drank from lakes, rivers and streams.
An appreciable number of respondents (66.70%) had access to pipe borne water. Quite a number of respondents did not treat water before drinking (33%) and those who did that used boiling, filtering, chlorination as means to control guinea worm disease.
The study showed that early reporting of cases, wounds dressing and so on were used as treatment measures. Supply of boreholes, health education and low - technology measures to promote behavioural change, and introduction of water treatment products like Aquatabs among other things were suggested as means to treat and eradicate/prevent guinea worm disease.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of GRADUATE STUDIES, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfillment of the Award of MSc. Degree in Health Education and Promotion.