Ghana receives two million dollars for TB control

Kumasi (Ashanti Region) - Ghana has received two million dollars from the United Nations Global Fund for the Control of Malaria, Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS established last year.

The amount would be used to ensure increased patients' access to uninterrupted and continuous drug administration to cure of the disease. Dr Mrs Agatha Bonney, Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Health Services, said the metropolis, which had been chosen with Accra for a pilot project, had received 450,000 dollars for the first quarter of the year.

She was speaking at the "Tuberculosis Fair", held in Kumasi on Thursday organised by the Metropolitan Directorate of Health for Health for School Children and the public. It highlighted the five components of the TB project - private sector involvement, information and education, training and home visits, nutrition as well as diagnosis and microscopy.

She said the training aspect started in February, adding that, by the end of the first quarter of this year, about 300 health facilitators to train the private sector would have passed out.

Simon Adoboe, Disease Control Officer of the National TB Unit said the project was to augment the National TB programme, which had been in existence since 1994. He said the "Directly Observed Therapy" (DOTS) involving the private sector, such as chemical sellers; midwives, doctors and pharmacists would be extended to all parts of the Metropolis.

Adoboe said the knowledge of health staff in TB management already in the public sector would be upgraded to act as facilitators in the training of private practitioners. He said TB was curable and its treatment free and urged the public to give patients the moral support to undergo treatment.

The fair was preceded by a float and interaction between the facilitators and patients at the TB ward of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). The facilitators announced their plans to change the Akan reference to the disease, "Nsamanwa" which means "Ghost Cough". They were of the view that the name was inappropriate since the disease was curable.