Lassa Fever Blues: Ghanaians Ditch Bush Meat

Fear has gripped the hearts of many after the Ghana Health Service (GHS) recently issued a Lassa Fever Alert.

The alert had come as an urgent national response action to raise public awareness on the Acute Viral Haemorrhagic fever, following Nigeria’s declaration of the outbreak.

This concern has led to some bush-meat lovers kissing goodbye to their favourite source of protein.

Speaking to Accra-based Power FM, hunters in the Central Region say, the Lassa fever “red alert” had caused their business to stall.

According to one of them, “When we bring the meat to the roadside, people do not rush for it as they used to. And this is really affecting our business.”

The hunter said on a good day, he brings to the roadside five big rats and 10 grasscutters.

“I sell almost everything but now I can’t sell anything. We don’t even know which doctor has gone to approve such reports. That was how they scared us with Ebola. The alert has really worried us,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, a visit to some major markets across the national capital has revealed that some market men and women had never heard of the disease.

Naturally, hearing it for the first times caused a stir and according to them, they would do well to learn more about the disease.

At Madina Market, Hannah, a trader, told our reporter that though it was her first-time hearing of the disease, it would be difficult to kill all the rats in the market.

“If we say we want to kill all the rats in this market, it would be impossible. What we have to do is to guard ourselves from their reach. We should be able to cover our food,” she said.

Another trader, Akosua Gyamfi, said, “We urge the health ministry to do what they can to prevent this illness from coming to Ghana. Maybe it might not come to Ghana but it might destroy the businesses of those who sell the meat.”

Meanwhile, the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) says it has annihilated 80% of rats that had been causing havoc in the Community One market.

According to them the action was part of stringent measures the assembly had put in place to prevent the disease from entering Ghana.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]