The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says the country has not recorded any case of Monkeypox disease (Mpox). It said claims of an outbreak in the country was a case of data misrepresentation.
The Director, Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, who refuted the claim stressed that there is no reported case in Ghana presently.
The Director, Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe was reacting to a report by the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (ECOWAS-RCSDC) stating that they are confirmed Mpox cases in the ECOWAS region.
The report further mentioned that four confirmed cases and zero deaths of Mpox have been reported in Ghana adding that “since the beginning of the outbreak in 2022, a total of 131 confirmed cases and zero death of Mpox have been reported from Ghana”. But the Director of Public Health of then Ghana Health Service insisted that no case of MPOX has been reported in Ghana.
He said though Ghana recorded 120 cases of Mpox in 2022 and eight cases in 2023 respectively, there had been no reported case in 2024, despite an outbreak in Africa and whatever action being taken was a precautionary measure.
Mpox is a zoonotic disease caused by a virus that belongs to the same family as that which causes smallpox. It is mainly transmitted to humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected rodents or primates.
