We have to prevent Ebola from entering Ghana – Omane Boamah

The Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, has said Ghana will have to do all it can to keep the fast-spreading Ebola pandemic out of the country.

He said the recent outbreak of the disease is the deadliest since 1976 when a little over 600 human cases were reported, out of which 431 died in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

The recent outbreak of the Ebola disease, which began in March this year in Guinea and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and now Nigeria, has so far killed about 900 people out of 1,134 human cases recorded.

“As a country, we should be able to first prevent the disease from crossing our borders. If it does, we must control it; and all of these can be done by educating the public,” Dr Omane Boamah said.

Dr Omane Boamah, who was speaking at the seventh Presidential Luncheon of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR), charged all public relations (PR) practitioners and other communications experts in the country to help sensitise the public on the deadly pandemic.

The theme for this year’s luncheon was ‘Enhancing National Discourse: The Place of the Professional Public Relations Practitioner.’

Dr Omane Boamah praised PR practitioners for their efforts in communicating with the public on behalf of organisations to create fair understanding.

“Some CEOs do not appreciate the need to attach PR departments to their firms…but communication is a chain and when it breaks it can hinder the purpose of the organisation,” he noted.

The Minister stated that Ghana is one of the fastest growing democracies in Africa thanks to the proliferation of the media.

He said while the country’s 342 radio and 28 television stations are playing a vital role in transforming the country, the contributions of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and telecommunications cannot be downplayed.

Dr Edward Omane Boamah therefore urged media practitioners to also use these available channels to help Ghana and the sub-region fight the Ebola crisis.