The Dean of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Alexander Yaw Debrah, has stressed the need to include elephantiasis and hydrocele management in National Health Insurance Scheme diseases.
This he believes will help patients to seek medical attention whenever they get pain attacks.
Professor Yaw Debrah is also advocating for Elephantiasis patients to be put on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty to help reduce their plight and also improve their quality of life.
He maintained that LEAP, as a social protection intervention of the Government of Ghana which aims at reducing extreme poverty among the extremely poor and vulnerable in Ghana will go a long way to help such patients mostly found in remote communities.
Delivering a Professorial Inaugural Lecture on the topic: ‘Eliminating Filarial Diseases: A New Hope for an Old Battle’, Professor Yaw Debrah maintains that LEAP, as a social protection intervention of the Government will go a long way to help such patients mostly found in remote communities.
“NTD control should be a priority in our national health policies. Filarial diseases like all the NTDs affect the poorest of the poor. Our data has shown that Elephantiasis patients cannot afford the basic medical bills. We therefore need to add Elephantiasis and hydrocele management to the list of national health insurance diseases.
Also, as a nation, we need to include Elephantiasis patients on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP), which is a social protection intervention by the government of Ghana with the aim of reducing extreme poverty. This will improve the quality of lives of the Elephantiasis patients,” he stated.
