The Obuasi East District Health Directorate has rolled out a month-long sensitisation on tuberculosis as part of activities marking this year’s World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. Health facilities within the district are also embarking on a week-long mass tuberculosis screening to ensure early detection and treatment of the disease across the locality. Ms Delphine Gborglovor, the District Health Director of Health Services, who announced this, said sensitisation was the way to contain and curtail the spread of the disease in the district. She was speaking at a free screening programme for tuberculosis and the sensitisation of the public to mark World TB Day at Ahansoyewodea, a suburb of Obuasi. The event, which was organised by the Health Directorate and the District Assembly, allowed hundreds of people, including staff of the Assembly, to be screened for TB and HIV. Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that TB is one of the top 10 causes of death, and in Ghana about 125 people fall ill daily from the disease. Also, about 4,000 people die daily from TB globally, with close to 30,000 getting infected daily. The District Health Director said HIV and Tuberculosis had something in common hence the need to screen participants for the disease. ‘HIV and Tuberculosis have some form of relationship. People with HIV have weakened immune system hence they have an increasing risk of contracting tuberculosis,’ she emphasised. She encouraged the use of nose masks to stop the spread of tuberculosis, especially among those who were already infected, adding that TB treatment was free. Madam Faustina Amissah, the District Chief Executive (DCE), encouraged the public to prioritise their health because it was critical to their livelihoods and the socio-economic development of the country. She admonished the public to desist from stigmatising persons living with TB and HIV, saying it was contributing to the challenges in the fight against the diseases.
Source: Ghana News Agency