Dr. Rita Patricia Amenyo
Ghana recorded more than 17,000 tuberculosis (TB) cases between January and October, 2025, emphasising the need for more sensitisation to help end the disease by 2030 despite some progress.
The Deputy Programme Manager of the National TB Control Programme, Dr. Rita Patricia Amenyo, who disclosed this to the media at a sensitisation workshop organised by the Ghana National TB Voice Network, said the numbers are expected to rise when the full year for 2025 is recorded.
Dr. Amenyo also indicated that men continue to account for a higher proportion of reported cases than women, while children account for a smaller share of cases though about 700 children were diagnosed with TB by October 2025, representing about 4.2 per cent of the cases.
Dr. Amenyo said that although the increase in detected cases suggests some improvement in case finding, Ghana remains far below the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of about 44,000 cases expected to be detected annually.
She said, “January to October ending, we have about 17,000 people with TB. We are expecting to find 22,000, so once we have complete data for November and December, the numbers may increase. What this tells us is that Ghana has a very long way to end TB. The whole world is looking at ending TB by 2030, and per WHO standards, we are to find about 44,000 people in Ghana every year who have TB,” she noted.
Dr. Amenyo stated that the gap between expected and detected cases shows thousands of people affected with TB remain undiagnosed, adding that meeting the national and global targets would require more efforts to address the situation while also calling for more diagnostic equipment.
“We need a lot of funding support, a lot of health workers who are willing to do more to screen people for TB in the facilities. As for the cases, they are there, but nobody would come with TB written on their face. So, we have to look and find,” she said.
The workshop formed part of broader efforts to strengthen awareness, improve early case detection, and support advocacy on Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB).
Touching on the symptoms of the disease, the Deputy Programme Manager explained that TB is an infectious disease which could affect almost any part of the body, although it mostly attacks the lungs, citing symptoms such as cough, fever, weight loss, night sweats, chest pain among others.
While calling for sustained government support and increased funding to help eliminate the disease, she also urged the public to seek medical attention promptly whenever they develop any symptom, as tuberculosis is preventable and curable.
The two-day event also brought together health workers, TB champions who are survivors of DR-TB, and selected journalists, with a focus on deepening understanding and improving community engagement and reporting.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah