Meningitis cases ‘under control’

PEOPLE should not panic over the cases of meningitis reported in the North, as the situation is under control, says a regional health official.

The Director of Health in the Oshikoto Region, Maria Kavezimbi, said yesterday that she had visited one of the affected villages, Onamishu, on Wednesday to study the situation. She also maintained that the cases of the highly contagious disease so far reported did not amount to an outbreak.According to her, only three patients have been admitted to the Onandjokwe Lutheran Hospital – a three-year-old boy and two girls of 10 and 12, both from Eengodi constituency in the Oshikoto Region.”The three youngsters are doing very well,” Kavezimbi said.”We have sent health workers to the affected areas to go and give proper information to the villagers, and to make them aware of the disease, and also to tell them to be calm, as the situation is not serious yet, and just simple cases of meningitis currently occurring here and there.””Let us be calm, the Ministry of Health is doing its best to control the situation,” she said.Eengodi Regional Councillor Walde Sheyavali announced on the NBC’s Oshiwambo radio service on Wednesday morning that several cases of the disease had been reported at Onamakulikwa and Ohambala village in Eengodi Constituency this week.As worries mounted on Wednesday about the disease spreading, health workers were dispatched to affected areas to alert villagers.When approached for comment, the Matron of the Onandjokwe Hospital, Monika Shilongo, confirmed to The Namibian that they were treating meningitis patients.”We have treated and are treating meningitis cases from Onamakulikwa, Ohambala, Onkumbula, Ohashipepe and Omakunde villages in Eengodi Constituency,” she said.She said a boy, Lukas Akapa from Omakunde village, died of the disease at the beginning of the month.She also maintained that the cases of the highly contagious disease so far reported did not amount to an outbreak.According to her, only three patients have been admitted to the Onandjokwe Lutheran Hospital – a three-year-old boy and two girls of 10 and 12, both from Eengodi constituency in the Oshikoto Region.”The three youngsters are doing very well,” Kavezimbi said.”We have sent health workers to the affected areas to go and give proper information to the villagers, and to make them aware of the disease, and also to tell them to be calm, as the situation is not serious yet, and just simple cases of meningitis currently occurring here and there.””Let us be calm, the Ministry of Health is doing its best to control the situation,” she said.Eengodi Regional Councillor Walde Sheyavali announced on the NBC’s Oshiwambo radio service on Wednesday morning that several cases of the disease had been reported at Onamakulikwa and Ohambala village in Eengodi Constituency this week.As worries mounted on Wednesday about the disease spreading, health workers were dispatched to affected areas to alert villagers. When approached for comment, the Matron of the Onandjokwe Hospital, Monika Shilongo, confirmed to The Namibian that they were treating meningitis patients.”We have treated and are treating meningitis cases from Onamakulikwa, Ohambala, Onkumbula, Ohashipepe and Omakunde villages in Eengodi Constituency,” she said.She said a boy, Lukas Akapa from Omakunde village, died of the disease at the beginning of the month.