By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey, GNA
Accra, July 6, GNA – Professor Ernest Kenu, a Medical Epidemiologist at the University of Ghana, says infectious disease transmission across nations are largely the result of weak public health systems rather than the movement of people across borders.
He said disease smuggling was the silent movement of pathogens through unsafe water, poor sanitation, weak surveillance systems, delayed diagnosis and inadequate infection prevention measures.
Prof Kenu said this in Accra when he delivered a lecture on: “Disease Smuggling: The Unseen Cargo in Global Health Security; Lessons from Cholera and COVID-19 in Ghana.”
He said diseases often spread unnoticed through contaminated water, asymptomatic individuals, poorly regulated food systems and overwhelmed health facilities long before they were detected by surveillance systems.
“Disease smuggling is not a border patrol problem; it is a system failure, the disease thrives where water is unsafe, sanitation is absent and political will falters,” he said.
Drawing lessons from Ghana’s cholera outbreaks dating back to 1970 and the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof Kenu said the country’s greatest vulnerability was not international travel but systemic failures that allowed diseases to spread rapidly.
“Ghana has recorded more than 130,000 cholera cases and over 2,000 preventable deaths since the first outbreak in 1970,” he said.
Prof Kenu said investigations into previous cholera outbreaks consistently pointed to poor sanitation, contaminated water sources and inadequate infection prevention practices as major drivers.
He recalled that during a cholera outbreak in the past, a treatment centre itself became a source of transmission because of poor infection prevention and control practices.
The Professor of Epidemiology said handwashing with soap under running water remains one of the highest-return public health investments available as proper hand hygiene could reduce diarrhoeal diseases by between 30 and 48 per cent and respiratory infections by 20 to 50 per cent.
Every dollar invested in handwashing generated significant health and economic returns while poor sanitation continued to cost Ghana hundreds of millions of dollars annually, he noted.
Prof Kenu called for renewed investment in water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, regulation of food vendors, strengthened infection prevention measures in health facilities and greater community participation in disease surveillance.
He also advocated decentralised laboratory systems, faster diagnostic turnaround times and stronger emergency operations centres across all regions.
He urged Ghana to move from responding to outbreaks to predicting them using artificial intelligence, digital surveillance and real-time disease intelligence, saying “The next disease smuggler is already on the way”.
“It may be another coronavirus, antimicrobial-resistant pathogen or climate-sensitive outbreak. Ghana cannot build walls high enough to keep diseases out, but it can build systems smart enough to stop them.”
Prof Kenu called on the public to promptly report unusual illnesses and support disease prevention measures in their communities.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
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