Children under five years in Bawku stand the risk of dying from the six childhood killer diseases because the conflict there has prevented health personnel from vaccinating them, the Bawku Municipal Director of Health Service, Dr MenSah Afrul, has said.

The killer diseases are: measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, poliomyelitis, tetanus and chicken pox.

Dr Mensah said due to the prolonged communal conflict, only 20.4 per cent for polio and 22.3 per cent for measles of the projected 90 per cent coverage had been achieved in the immunisation of children by March this year.

By the same period last year, 26.9 and 28.2 per cent coverage respectively, had been achieved.

Dr Mensah disclosed this when he addressed a meeting of the various ethnic groups in Bawku.

The meeting was organised by the Bawku Literary Society (BLS) with sponsorship from IBI, Ghana, a non-governmental organisation.

The Health Director said the situation had resulted in large numbers of children reporting with infectious diseases resulting in deaths.

He said the situation was alarming as the health teams were not able to move freely to conduct immunisation exercises.

Parents are also unable to take their children to the clinics to be immunised for fear of being attacked.

"Even though the area is now experiencing relative calm, hospital attendance is still very low and one wonders where they take the sick to," he lamented.

Dr Mensah further disclosed that the performance indicators on immunisation deliveries and out patients department attendance were not encouraging due to the restrictions on movement of health personnel who belong to either side of the feuding factions.

He reminded the youth of the unproductive and the negative impact of the conflict on the socio-economic and health status of the people.

Ms Fatima Seidu, human resource officer of the Ghana Education Service, noted that teaching and learning had suffered serious setbacks, because of the exodus of both pupils and teachers fleeing the conflict.

Speaking on the theme: "Tolerance amongst the youth - A pre-requisite for sustainable peace in Bawku," Ms Florence Bombande, president of the Bawku Literary Society, advised the youth not to allow themselves to be used as tools to fan the conflict.

She said "this is your future at stake and any mistakes on your part now could greatly jeopardise your own future prosperity".

Source: Ghanaian Times