Int’l TB Day: Director Of Health Calls For More Action To Stop Deadly Disease
Filasco DeGeneral
Int’l TB Day: Director Of Health Calls For More Action To Stop Deadly Disease
Despite being preventable and curable, tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world according to Ashanti regional deputy health director in charge of public health Dr Micheal Rockson Adjei.
Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, World TB Day on the 24th of march on the theme; “Invest To End TB to Save Lives” marks the occasion for the international community to call for more action to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) as a public health burden by 2030.
Dr Rockson Adjei in a press briefing disclose that, tuberculosis is a major public health threat in Ghana and globally and the second leading infectious killer killer globally after covid-19.
He said, 44,000 people become infected every year in Ghana.
In 2021, 13332(30%) were notified in Ghana and 86% were successfully treated.
In Ashanti Region cases were detected and 83% were were successfully treated.
Dr Rockson added that, the NTP has introduced innovation to improve case detection which include bidirectional testing of Covid-19 and TB, TB preventive therapy, modern diagnostics among others.
He added that, despite these efforts, cases detection remains low (40%) due to inadequate funding, service disruptions caused by Covid-19, stigma, myths and misconceptions about the disease.
He stressed that, the worrying situation is the emergency of MDR Tb which is different to treat and 100 time expensive compared with drug sensitive TB.
Dr Rockson Adjei then appealed to the stakeholders to understand that without adequate financial resources, and effort from society, we cannot win the fight against TB and reverse the severe impact of Covid-19.
“The good news is that TB is curable if we seek early treatment.
Any person coughing for any duration with one or more TB symptoms report the nearest health facility” Dr Rockson concluded.
STORY BY: Akwadaa Nyame(SilverFM)
