President Invited To Buruli Ulcer Summit

By Edmund Mingle
Wednesday, 25 March 2009

President John Evans Atta Mills has expressed the government’s commitment to significantly contribute to the fight against deadly diseases such as Buruli Ulcer on the African continent, and to improve the health conditions of the citizenry.

“Everything that will improve the health of our people is worth supporting,” he told a delegation from Benin that called on him at the Castle, Osu, yesterday.

The team was here to deliver an invitation from Benin’s President, Dr Thomas Yayi Boni, for President Mills to attend to the Second International Conference and Research on ulcers in Cotonou, Benin.

The President noted the debilitating effect of buruli ulcers, especially among the poor in Africa, said Ghana attached importance to the upcoming conference and other initiatives towards eradicating the disease.
He thanked President Yayi Boni for the invitation, and commended Benin , the World Health Organisation and other partners, for the organisation of the conference, and promised that Ghana would be “strongly represented”.

Professor Issifou Takpara, Benin’s Minister of Health who led the delegation, told newsmen after the meeting that the five-day conference, scheduled to start on March 30, was part of an international initiative to focus more attention on controlling the disease.

The Benin conference a follow up to the first conference held in July, 1998 in Côte d'Ivoire, is expected to be attended by hundreds of delegations from endemic countries, development partners, policy makers, scientists and representatives of civil society groups.