The National Tuberculosis Programme has raised a red flag over a significant detection gap, revealing that nearly 20,000 TB cases go undetected and untreated in Ghana every year.
Programmes Manager of the National TB Programme, Dr. Bernard Ziem, disclosed that while Ghana estimates about 44,000 new TB cases annually, current resource capacity only allows the health system to identify between 22,000 and 24,000 cases.
This leaves a dangerous shortfall of infected individuals who unknowingly continue to spread the airborne disease within their communities.
Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV on Friday, March 20, Dr. Ziem emphasised the urgency of bridging this gap to meet the global target of ending TB by 2030, a goal that aims to reduce the incidence of the disease by 90%.
“An untreated person will continue to transmit it to others,” Dr Ziem warned. “Because this is an airborne disease, it is transmitted by droplet infections from people who have the active disease when they cough, sneeze, or even just talk.”
The detection shortfall is particularly alarming among children. The programme expects children to account for 8 to 10% of all detected cases, translating to about 2,000 children annually. However, in 2025, only 700 paediatric cases were identified.
Health officials are now intensifying screening efforts, particularly in high-risk environments. These target populations include individuals living in poorly ventilated areas such as prisons and slums, as well as mining communities, persons living with HIV, and those with poorly controlled chronic conditions like diabetes.
The medical community stresses that TB is entirely curable and preventable. Treatment for drug-susceptible TB takes six months, while drug-resistant strains require six to eight months of medication.
Dr. Ziem strongly advised against the use of herbal medicines for confirmed cases, pointing to the proven effectiveness of modern anti-TB medications.
To protect vulnerable individuals, the National TB Programme is actively promoting TB Preventive Therapy (TPT).
This preventive medication is administered to close household contacts of confirmed patients, as well as high-risk groups, to stop the infection from developing into active disease.
Operating under the global theme “Yes, We Can End TB,” the programme is calling for a united front involving the government, civil society, and the private sector to increase investments in diagnostics, case-finding strategies, and medication procurement.
