Ghana Declares Yellow Fever Outbreak After Three Deaths

Ghana's Ministry of Health has declared a yellow fever outbreak in districts of the Upper West Region after laboratory tests confirmed the virus in three patients, all of whom died. In a statement issued on October 9, the ministry said the declaration follows reports of suspected cases involving fever, jaundice and bleeding at health facilities in Sissala West and Wa West that began on September 9, 2026.

The samples were first tested inside Ghana, then sent to a World Health Organisation-accredited laboratory in Dakar, Senegal, where the Institut Pasteur confirmed them as yellow fever. All of the patients died despite aggressive management by health staff at the facilities where they were treated, the ministry said.

Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh declared the outbreak under the International Health Regulations of 2005 and Ghana's Public Health Act of 2012, known as Act 851. The declaration puts the affected districts under formal outbreak protocols and commits the government to a coordinated national response.

The Ghana Health Service has activated the National and Regional Public Health Emergency Operations Centres and sent Rapid Response Teams into the affected communities. Those teams are looking for new cases, tightening disease surveillance and running public risk communication as authorities work to contain the spread.

Emergency vaccination campaign planned

Authorities are preparing a targeted emergency vaccination campaign in affected and at-risk districts this October. The campaign will cover Wa West, Sissala West and Sissala East, according to the ministry.

Yellow fever spreads through the bites of infected mosquitoes, and there is no specific cure for the disease. Vaccination is the strongest defence, and a single dose is enough to confer life-long protection, according to the World Health Organisation. The ministry has also urged residents to use mosquito repellents and to sleep under insecticide-treated nets during the day, alongside efforts to clear stagnant water around homes where mosquitoes breed.

At designated health facilities, the Ghana Health Service is strengthening treatment capacity, and surveillance has been heightened across the region so that any additional suspected case can be identified and answered quickly.

The ministry cautioned the public against self-medication and asked residents to rely on official updates from the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service. Traditional and religious leaders, media organisations and civil society groups have been asked to back the containment effort.

Scale of the outbreak so far

Speaking earlier in the week at an engagement with health-sector stakeholders in Accra, the health minister disclosed that 74 suspected cases had been recorded in the region, the Ghanaian Times reported. Nationwide, about 450 suspected cases were recorded between June and September this year.

The minister urged calm, saying the guideline is that even a very small number of confirmed cases is enough to declare an outbreak, while stressing that the situation was not out of hand. He asked the public not to spread alarm and to take information from official sources only.

Yellow fever outbreaks surface from time to time in West Africa, where the mosquitoes that carry the virus thrive during and after the rainy season. Ghana has mounted emergency vaccination drives in past years when cases appeared, and officials say the same approach is being applied now.

Documents show the declaration was made in line with Ghana's obligations under the International Health Regulations, which require member states to report events that could constitute a public health emergency of international concern.

Yellow fever remains one of the deadliest vaccine-preventable diseases on the continent. The World Health Organisation estimates that the virus causes about two hundred thousand cases and thirty thousand deaths each year worldwide, with roughly nine in ten of those deaths occurring in Africa. The organisation has backed a global strategy to eliminate yellow fever epidemics, built around routine childhood immunisation and emergency mass vaccination drives when outbreaks strike.

Residents in the Upper West Region who experience sudden fever, headache, muscle pain, yellowing of the eyes or skin, or unusual bleeding are being urged to report to the nearest health facility immediately.

Sources: OneGlobe Media, Ghanaian Times, Nsem360 News