The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is asking the general public to “practice cough etiquettes as a lifestyle and report all coughs for medical attention” to curb the spread of tuberculosis in the country.
This advice comes as part of celebrations to commemorate this year’s World Tuberculosis Day today, Tuesday with the theme “It’s still time! Forward to finding missing TB people”.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 44,000 people living with TB in Ghana but in 2019, Ghana detected 14,597 new TB cases with 29,403 cases undetected.
The GHS, in a statement, listed some measures that the country must follow to prevent people from contracting the disease.
“Frontline health workers should screen all clients who visit the hospital for cough and test all presumed cases. Corporate Ghana must put in measures to screen their staff yearly to protect them from respiratory infections. We need to ensure adequate domestic and international investments to end TB,” the statement read.
Ghana records first case of ‘deadly’ XDR TB
In 2018, the Ghana Health Service confirmed Ghana’s first case of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Tuberculosis.
According to the Service, the victim of the disease was confirmed dead.
The rare type of TB known as XDR TB does not respond to standard treatment with first-line anti-TB drugs and can take up to two years or more to treat with drugs that are less potent, more toxic and much more expensive.
The Manager of the TB Control Programme at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Frank Bonsu, called for a concerted effort to fight the emerging threat.