By Ebrima Sillah in Ghana
Imagine living in a remote village in Africa without proper healthcare and all of a sudden your skin start itching after being bitten by the small black flies that breed in the waters of a river near you. And as time passes, the infection affects your eye sight. And without access to prompt and efficient medical care, you now completely become impaired by river blindness disease or better called Onchocerciasis. This is no imaginary tale but the reality of life that communities in Northern Ghana live with.
River blindness broke out in Ghana in the early 1980s when black flies invaded communities in large parts of Northern Ghana leaving hundreds of villagers permanently impaired. The disease is transmitted by small worms that are passed on from one person to another through the bite of small tropical black flies that carry the worm causing blindness and various skin conditions.
Investigative journalists Ebrima Sillah has travelled to Northern Ghana to find out why many people are getting impaired in the rural communities in Northern Ghana. Ebrima’s investigative mission was supported by Africa Media Initiative’s Africa Story Challenge Competition funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The first of a series of Ebrima’s multi media reports starts from a small village of Nangodi in the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana
The first of a series of Ebrima’s multi media reports starts from a small village of Nangodi in the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUUbPSw6g1c
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