A specialist pediatrician at the Volta Regional Hospital, Hohoe, Dr. Edem Sarbah, has said new-born jaundice cases in the Volta Region have been increasing tremendously in the past four years.
For instance, he said, the cases rose from 720 in 2019 to 879 in 2020. In 2021, a total of 997 cases were reported and that increased to 1,238 in 2022, Dr Sarbah disclosed.
He said the incidence rate of neonatal jaundice in the region now stood at 3.7 percent, an increase of 3.2 percent from last year.
Dr. Sarbah said these during the launch and commemoration of the Volta Regional Neonatal Jaundice Week in Ho last Friday.
Organized jointly by the Paediatric Society of Ghana and the Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH), the celebration was on the theme “Spot the Yellow, Stop Disability and Death”.
Underreported
Dr. Sarbah said the figures were less than the actual number of babies who developed jaundice, adding that some of them returned to the hospital with preventable disabilities while some died.
“Awareness about newborn jaundice remains low, hence the drive for this advocacy,” he pointed out.
He explained that jaundice may occur on its own or due to underlying conditions and surgical causes.
Therefore, the HTH would maintain a firm stance to support the pediatric unit in various ways to prevent disabilities in newborns, he added.
The Queen of the Ve-Deme Tsowu Afede clan, Mama Afiakumah II, who presided, urged public-spirited individuals and corporate bodies to support the Paediatric Society of Ghana with great zeal and resources in the campaign to minimize neonatal jaundice cases in the region, and for that matter the country.
Source: Graphic Online
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