Officials of TB Programme and dignitaries at the event
The number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the country is growing with the National Tuberculosis Programme recording a 20 per cent increase in diagnosed cases for 2022.
According to the programme, 16,650 cases were detected in 2022 as against the 13,278 cases detected in the country in 2021.
Programme Manager Dr. Yaw Adusi-Poku, said the figure recorded for last year was due to the improvement of case finding activities in all the regions.
He said the WHO estimated that 45,000 people in Ghana fell ill with TB in 2021 and 15,700 people died from the disease in that same year.
He said that meant that every day, 123 people in the country fell to TB in Ghana and 43 people died of it in the country.
“People must know that the symptoms include coughing, weight loss, sweating at night even when it’s cold, fever and loss of appetite. These are the symptoms families, schools, churches and Imams must know and make sure they come to the facilities for testing,” he said.
This year’s World TB Day was on the theme: ‘Yes! We can end TB!’ It is to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.
It also aims to inspire hope and encourage high-level leadership, increased investments, faster uptake of new WHO recommendations, adoption of innovations, accelerated action, and multisectoral collaboration to combat the TB epidemic.
WHO Representative to Ghana, Dr. Francis Kasolo, said through their technical support, leading advocacy and effective partnerships, enormous progress had been made over the past decade with high-burden countries having surpassed or reached the 20 per cent target of reducing new TB cases.
Deputy Minister of Health, Mahama Asei Seini, called on the private sector and civil society organisations to come on board to support the government to create awareness of TB to bring out the missing TB cases in the communities.
“TB Is curable, treatment is free so get tested,” he added.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri