Typhoid Outbreak Strikes Dambai: Chief and Former MCE Dead
Ghana, August 26,2025 - The Oti Regional Minister has confirmed a devastating typhoid outbreak in Dambai, claiming the lives of a prominent chief and a former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE). This tragic incident highlights the urgent need for improved healthcare infrastructure in the region.
“Just to even mention what happened to us yesterday, (Monday, August 25), one of our chiefs, Asafoatse of Dambai Traditional Council, we lost him because of typhoid. So many people have lost their lives. As for politicians, most of them even died. The former Chief Executive of Dambai died out of typhoid,” John Kwadwo Gyapong revealed in a conversation on Joy News monitored by Lead News Online.
The outbreak according to report is attributed to poor environmental health practices and a lack of sanitary facilities. The Regional Director of Environmental Health, Mrs. Marie Sybil Boison, emphasized that the absence of household toilets has led to open defecation, contaminating water bodies and increasing the risk of waterborne diseases like typhoid.
Lack of household toilets and inadequate waste management systems have contributed to the spread of the disease.
Also the region's environmental health practices, particularly in markets, have been called into question, with traders from various parts of the country visiting the Oti Region to conduct business thus the region's limited healthcare infrastructure has exacerbated the situation, making it challenging to contain the outbreak.
The Oti Region has been grappling with a significant number of typhoid cases, with over 10,000 reported in the first half of 2025.
Source – Lead News Online/Leticia Okpoti
