Dr. Nii Nortey Hanson-Nortey. INSET: The six motorbikes
Six motorbikes for the swift transportation of samples for TB test in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions have been presented to the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The donation was jointly done by Dr. Nii Nortey Hanson-Nortey, Country Director of Aurum Institute, Ghana and Nana Ahunabobrim Prah Agyensaim VI, the Omanhene of the Assin Owienkyi Traditional Area, who is also the National TB Ambassador.
Each metropolitan health directorate is expected to receive three of the motorbikes to facilitate the collection of sputum samples from partner health facilities to designated laboratories for quick results, to ensure fast treatment of TB patients.
Dr. Hanson-Nortey, who spoke with the media after the presentation, pointed out that the support would facilitate the timely implementation of a TB case-finding intervention project, which is currently being implemented in the Accra and Kumasi Metropolitan areas.
He said so far, 13,000 people had been screened since the intervention, of which 73 new TB cases were identified.
The project uses community soccer galas to attract the people who are then given education on the symptoms of TB and treatment available, and would soon engage community pharmacists in both cities in the ‘know your lung status’ campaign to create more awareness.
He further explained that the two cities were selected for the project primarily because of their high records of reported TB cases and malnutrition due to factors such as the population density, high slum areas, congestions, among other things, which were all factors that resulted in the spread of the disease.
Although Ghana is supposed to diagnose about 45,000 TB cases annually, it is able to diagnose only 15,000, leaving a huge gap of about 30,000 missing cases.
Dr. Hanson-Nortey stressed the need to work towards finding these people and provide them with the needed treatment to eradicate the disease.
He said the Aurum Institute, an affiliate of Aurum Institute NPC of South Africa, had been working with government to improve the health of people and communities living in poverty through innovation in global health research, systems and delivery towards the eradication of TB and HIV, and is committed to the cause.
“It is also because they have the highest aggregation of private sector health institutions for partnership to bring down TB,” he explained.
Nana Ahunabobrim Prah Agyensaim VI indicated that testing and treatment for TB is free, and urged the public to take advantage and seek early treatment to prevent the needless deaths resulting from TB in Ghana.
He also complained about the high rate of stigmatisation which was hindering progress being made towards the eradication of the disease, and urged the media to intensify public education and awareness creation and called for more private sector partnerships to achieve the desired outcomes in TB prevention.
Mr. Kingsley Addo, a representative from the Accra Metropolitan Health Directorate, thanked the Aurum Institute for the initiative and support, attesting to the fact that with the motorbikes, samples which would have taken days to be tested would be done in a day.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri